SwizzleBerry

Catching Up

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 00:39:00 +0000

Two and a half years? Really? It doesn't seem that long since I blogged.

It's been a busy two and a half years. Some things have changed and some have stayed the same.

The biggest change? A new baby :)

Ella Josephine was born on August 10th 2012. She's 13 months old now and completely owns us.

And she's just woken up from her nap, so I have to cut this short!

Do I have time to blog?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 05:23:00 +0000

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/6374301/?claim=ga2vmt337dd">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

I'm considering blogging again. I'll see how I go.

It's been quiet around here!

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 01:06:00 +0000

Yes, I know. Apparently I've lost what little motivation I had. I'm hoping that will change again next week when the kids go back to school.

Part of the reason I've been so quiet is that we were considering building a new house. I got a little (lot?) obsessed there for a couple of months and spent way too much time looking at real estate sites for land sales, floor plans, design elements, colour charts, etc, etc.

We also spent a fair bit of time visiting display homes.

Then we decided to put it all on hold until I go back to work. Which sounds like a great plan. Our current house isn't ready to sell, so we figured we should concentrate on that and then start looking again in a couple of years.

We nearly built about three years ago, we'd put down a deposit on a huge block of land and all. Then the builder came back with a really crazy figure for site costs and told us it would probably only get higher, his words were something like "at least $30k, probably a lot more" and I got panicked and talked us both out of it. We ended up giving up the land. I'm kicking myself now, because blocks in the same estate, the one of two there are left, are now double that price. Land prices here are crazy at the moment. Really crazy. So crazy, in fact, that I actually think it would be cheaper these days to buy an established house, even if it's not exactly what we want. It used to be that buying land and building a house was the cheaper way to go, that doesn't seem to be the case any more.

In other news, I feel a big decluttering coming on. I'm going to start with the kids closets when they go back to school and get rid of anything that's too small, or that I haven't seen them wearing in ages.

I'm even seriously considering selling all my stamping/scrapping supplies. I haven't scrapped in around three years and I haven't stamped in maybe a year and a half. I used to be a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so I have a LOT of stuff! I used to also run cardmaking sessions with a group of girlfriends. I might go through my stuff and see what I can get together to run another couple of sessions, as one of the girls asked about them last week when we were all out for dinner.

Knowing myself as I do, though, I'm sure that I'll get sucked into buying new stamps to make them happy, though. Maybe I should try and sell some of the stamps I never use and with any money I make I can buy new ones. That sound like a pretty good plan.

Menu Plan Monday February 21st

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:04:00 +0000

Monday: Shepherd's Pie

Tuesday: Tortellini Soup. I used this recipe, but modified it for our needs (and made it metric). I used spinach and ricotta tortellini and it was DELICIOUS! It's definitely going on our regular dinner rotation. The kids asked if we could have it again for dinner tonight, that's how good it was.

Wednesday: Chicken and Bacon Fettuccine

Thursday: Take away. Thursday is our crazy day. I've been struggling to get dinner on the table on time the last few weeks since school started up agian, so this week I'm not going to bother. Take away it is. (Although, I'm sure my Mummy guilt will kick in and I'll try to make something quick and easy, OR I'll obsess about it all week).

Friday: Orange Chicken. I'm using my own modified version of this recipe. I made this for the first time last Sunday and it was delicious, but way too sweet for us. I'll post my modifications next week.

Saturday: Beef and Broccoli. I bought some light soy to see how that changes the flavour. The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons each of dark and light soy. I've been using 3 tablespoons of dark with 1 tablespoon of water. Very delicious, but I'm curious about the original recipe.

Sunday: Chicken Massaman.

Fettuccine with Chicken and Bacon - Updated Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:00:00 +0000

I think I've finally found the perfect combination for my Spaghetti with Bacon and Garlic Sauce recipe. It's still very similar, but I've made a few additions, I've also changed the name.

Chicken and Bacon Fettuccine

Ingredients

500g dry fettuccine
2 chicken breast fillets
250g bacon (I cut most of the fat off)
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4-5 spring onions
1 can (375mls) low fat evaporated milk
sea salt and black pepper
chili flakes, to taste (I only use a pinch)

Directions

Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Add salt to the water onces it's boiling, if desired.

Slice chicken breasts in half horizontally, so you're left with two breast-shaped pieces, this helps them cook more quickly. Season chicken breasts well with sea salt and ground black pepper. Fry until golden brown in a small amount of olive oil. Set aside when just cooked.

Add a tiny bit more olive oil to the pan if needed and gently saute garlic, add bacon that has been sliced into 1/2" squares and saute until cooked. Add evaporated milk and scrape the bottom of the pan. Leave on a medium/high heat to start reducing the sauce. Add in chopped spring onions and sliced chicken breasts and allow the sauce to reduce a little. Add a pinch of chili flakes. If the sauce gets too thick, add water until the desired consistency. Once at the desired consistency, turn the heat off.

Add pasta to the boiling water and follow the directions on the packet. My fettuccine takes 11 minutes, but I always set the timer for two minutes less than that to check if it's done. Once done, drain pasta and return to the pot. Add the chicken and bacon sauce to the pasta and mix gently with a pasta spoon.

Beef and Broccoli

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 12:42:00 +0000

I used to love Chinese food. Beef and broccoli was always my favourite. A few years ago, actually it was probably more than a few, I went off it. It didn't taste as delicious as I remembered it, no matter which restaurant we visited. I don't know if it was my changing tastes after pregnancy, all I know is that I didn't like it any more.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago and the kids begged us to go "inside the Chinese restaurant to eat". The kids and Daddy love Chinese. I gave in and we went inside the restaurant to eat. I found my love of Chinese food again. It still wasn't as nice as I remembered it to be, but it was pretty good.

I decided I needed to find a really good recipe so I could make it myself. If you've been reading my blog you'll know that this year, I'm hoping to get back on track with my cooking and have way, WAY less take away than we did last year. So far this week, I've cooked every night and I'm really proud of myself. I've felt a little off the last couple of days and I still managed to suck it up and cook.

I originally found this recipe in the Chinese Food section of about.com, but have made a couple of changes.

It is a little fiddly, and takes about 30-40 minutes to prepare, but it is so worth it. Tonight was the second time I've made this and I found that it seemed to go more quickly this time. I'm guessing the prep time will get shorter each time.

Beef and Broccoli

Ingredients

400g sirloin steak

Marinade:
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cornflour

Sauce:
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
3 tablespoon premium soy sauce (dark)
3 tablespoon water

Thickener:
2 teaspoon cornflour mixed with 2 tablespoon water

To Cook Vegetables:
2 garlic cloves
1 onion, sliced into wedges
1 head fresh broccoli
220g frozen Asian vegetables
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
½ teaspoon sugar, or to taste

Other:
4½ tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

Directions

Cut the beef across the grain into thin slices. Add the marinade ingredients, adding the cornflour last (use your fingers to rub it in). Marinate the beef for 30 minutes.

While the beef is marinating, prepare the sauce and vegetables: for the sauce, mix together the oyster sauce, light soy, dark soy, and water in a small bowl and set aside. In another small bowl, mix the cornflour and water thickener and set aside.

Wash and drain the broccoli. Cut the stalk diagonally into thin slices. Cut the florets into 3 or 4 pieces. Crush the garlic. Cut the onion into wedges.

Heat the wok and add 2 tablespoons oil. When the oil is medium-hot add the beef. Blanch the beef by letting it lay flat for 30 - 40 seconds, and then stirring to separate the pieces. Remove the beef when it changes color and is nearly cooked (the entire process takes 1 - 2 minutes), and drain on paper towels.

Add 1½ tablespoons oil to the wok. When the oil is hot, add the crushed garlic and onion and stir fry briefly until aromatic and softened.

Add the broccoli and frozen Asian vegetables, sprinkle the salt and sugar over, and stir fry briefly, turning down the heat if necessary to make sure it doesn't burn. Add 1 cup water, and cook the broccoli and vegetables, covered, for 4 - 6 minutes, until broccoli turns a bright green and vegetables are tender but still crisp. Remove from the wok and drain.

Add 1 tablespoon oil and add the broccoli and the beef. Pour the sauce and cornflour mixture in the middle of the wok and stir quickly to thicken. Mix everything together and serve hot over steamed rice.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Chip Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 12:53:00 +0000

Many years ago I came across my first raspberry and white chocolate chip muffin in a coffee shop. It was delicious and I knew immediately that I needed to recreate that deliciously wonderful treat. I didn't get it right first time, probably not even the second time, but it finally came together and this is what I've come up with. It has been a family favourite for years and all three kids love them.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups SR flour
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
90g butter, melted
1 cup milk
1 large egg
⅔ cup white chocolate chips
1 cup frozen raspberries

Directions

Makes 18 muffins.

Preheat oven to 180ºC/350ºF.

Sift flour and add sugars. In a separate bowl add melted butter, milk, and lightly beaten egg. Pour the wet ingredients into dry and mix until just combined. Do not over beat. Add white chocolate chips and raspberries and mix through lightly.

Spoon, or scoop (I use my #20 ice-cream scoop), the mixture into prepared muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes. Remove from tins and allow to cool.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Menu Plan Monday 7th Feb

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 21:58:00 +0000

Monday : Fish fillets with parsley sauce and veggies

Tuesday : Chicken Massaman with basmati rice

Wednesday : Beef Tacos

Thursday : Vegetable soup with scones

Friday : Beef and broccoli with basmati rice

Saturday : Chicken and Bacon Fettuccine

Sunday : Irish Stew

Back to Normal Next Week

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 10:02:00 +0000

I have high hopes for the next few weeks. The boys finally go back to school on Friday of next week and Little Miss starts kindergarten (preschool) on Wednesday. I will finally be able to get into some kind of routine around the house. I am determined to get things under control. I want an organised house. I don't want to rush around tidying things when I know someone is coming over. I don't want to be embarrassed when someone shows up without calling first. I'm hoping all that will come together in the next couple of weeks.

I'm still not sure exactly how I'm going to do things, but I know I am going to do something, and that has to be better than nothing. Right? Right!

I'll have Monday and Wednesday mornings, and Thursday afternoon to myself or get started. I think I'm going to use Friday as my grocery shopping day. It's always been Monday or Tuesday in the past, but I'm finding that we're running out of food by the weekend and then eating junk. I'm going to get more serious about my menu planning, too. I don't think we've stuck to a single menu plan I've done. We've come close a few times, but something has always come up. I'm hoping that that doesn't happen too often any more. I figure if I plan a seven day menu, at least I have all the ingredients for those meals, no matter when I actually serve them. At least, that's my plan.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Send me links, send me advice, you can get my email address from my blogger profile, feel free to email me :)

Menu Plan Monday January 24th

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:52:00 +0000

Yes, I know it's actually Tuesday, but let's pretend I'm not late with this one. At least I'm doing it!

Monday : Lamb chops with scalloped potatoes and veggies
Tuesday : Homemade Vegetable Soup
Wednesday : BBQ with chicken fillets, burgers and salad
Thursday : Chicken Massaman
Friday : Take away
Saturday : Irish Stew
Sunday : Impossible Quiche Lorraine and veggies.

I've been cooking a lot more lately, but always in a rush and just forget to take photos. I'm sure I've mentioned that a time or two.

It's Australia Day here tomorrow, the anniversary of the day the First Fleet arrived in Australia in 1788. Over the years I've heard all manner of jokes about how we come from convicts, and it's true, but I love this country and I think we are so lucky to live here.

The Trampoline Incident

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:40:00 +0000

Christmas has come and gone for another year. It was a really great one in our house, even if one of the kids is a little more clever than we were expecting. On Christmas Eve my husband and my sister's boyfriend put the trampoline together while we took the kids out for the day. In Australia at Christmas time, the sun doesn't go down until close to 9pm, so we had to bring the kids back here in daylight.

We thought we had everything set, all the curtains were closed, they were going to bed early, the trampoline wasn't visible from the front yard or any uncurtained window in the house. Or so we thought. Little Mr. 6 is incredibly clever. We already knew this. Why we thought we could get away with this without him figuring it out or noticing is beyond me.

We have a set of French doors in our kitchen/dining area. They lead out to the backyard patio. Our garage backs onto the patio and it has a window. Little Mr. 6 spotted the trampoline in the reflection of the window. On Christmas Eve. Gah. So, we sat him down, away from his bother and sister and explained that Santa had asked Daddy and Craig to put the trampoline together for him, because it was too big to fit in his sleigh. He promised not to tell his brother and sister and let them find it for themselves in the morning. I'm not sure if he bought it or not, but he hasn't said anything about it and he did keep his promise and didn't tell his brother and sister. His reward we being able to bounce on the trampoline first. He was thrilled. They've been practically living on the trampoline ever since.

In another note, I've finally removed my Christmas Layout. I was getting a little sick of seeing Christmas trees, even as beautiful as they were.

I've used more lovely papers and element from Kristin at KCB Designs. This time it's a set called Cherry Blossoms. I can't see it on her site, so it might be an older one.

Another note, I made my Chicken and Bacon pasta again tonight and yet again forgot to take a photo of it.

The Non-Sewer Who Sewed

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 01:27:00 +0000

I'm going to sit down tonight (if I can swing the spare time) and change my blog design. I am! Gah.

I pulled out a brand new doona (duvet) cover for Erin that I'd bought a couple of weeks ago for her to use on her bed for her birthday and the stitching was TERRIBLE! I can't sew. At all. I don't even own a sewing machine. I do, however, have my mother's old Singer sewing machine sitting in my laundry, and have done for years. It's been mostly untouched. The last time I pulled it out, years ago, it wouldn't work. It appeared to me, the non-sewer, that it had seized up, so I packed it back in it's hard cover box and never looked at it again.

Fast forward to the day of Erin's birthday, Jan 10th, and I was SO upset that her new pefectly pink princess bedding was unusable. I grabbed the $20 mini kids sewing machine I had bought for scrapbooking and making cards (I never used it, the box we stilll unopened!), and tried to restitch the seems. Well. That was a big joke. A really, really big joke.

I ended up hoping and wishing that the old sewing machine had somehow miraculously fixed itself. Guess what? It had, or at least my wishing and doing whatever I could think of (some of it probably not good for the sewing machine!) made it work.

I channelled my inner highschooler and remembered how to thread the bobbin and guessed how to thread the machine and it actually worked. I practiced and practiced on scrap bits of material and it held together well.

I can't sew a straight like to save myself, but Erin got her new bedding that night and I couldn't have been happier. Ok, well I COULD have been happier, the product could have come stitched correctly in the first place, but you know what? I felt really good fixing that. Dare I say I am considering making a few doona covers of my own. I'll wait until the school holidays are over, about two more weeks and then I'll pop over to one of the fabric shops and see what's available. Maybe. I might end up chickening out!

Blueberry Pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 11:03:00 +0000

My Lemon and Blueberry Muffins were so delicious that I've got another hankering for blueberries. The kids love pancakes and because we're home for the school holidays, we've had time for more involved breakfasts than we normally eat.

The kids are loving it! Luckily Santa brought a trampoline for Christmas, so they're getting plenty of exercise to burn off all the extra deliciousness.

Blueberry Pancakes

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons baking powder
5 tablespoons white sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Makes 18 pancakes.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar. In a separate bowl combine eggs and milk. Pour milk and egg mixture into the flour mixture and mix gently until just combined. Mix in the melted butter and fold in the blueberries. Allow to stand for 15 minutes.

Pour 1/4 cupfuls into a fry pan prepared with non-stick spray and cook until golden on both sides.

Serve warm with maple syrup.

Menu Plan Monday January 3rd

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:28:00 +0000

Here's what we'll be eating this week if all goes according to plan, and it often doesn't!

Monday : Chicken Massaman Curry with Rice

Tuesday : BBQ - lamb chops, sausages and beef burgers with salad. (No, I won't be eating all that meat, but the five of us can't agree on which meat to have, so we eat take out pick from those).

Wednesday : Fettuccine with Chicken and Bacon

Thursday : Leftover Chicken Massaman Curry with Rice

Friday : Beef Tacos

Saturday : Cajun Chicken Salad.

Sunday : Fish fillets, corn on the cob, veggies and mashed potatoes.

No links this week, three of them are my own recipes that I don't have photos of at the moment. If I get a chance, I'll post photos and recipes during the week.

My plan with starting this new blog was to motivate myself to cook more. I have definitely been doing that and I'm having fun cooking again, which is an added bonus.

Lemon and Blueberry Muffins

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 05:52:00 +0000

In the freezer section of our supermarket there is one freezer that only contains products on special. It's the first place I look when I go shopping. This week frozen berries were on special. We love berries in our house. I make delicious White Chocolate and Raspeberry Muffins that ususually go before I can snap a photo of them! The kids love frozen berries with ice cream, although they don't have that very often.

I already had a full box of frozen raspberries in the freezer, so we bought some frozen blueberries instead. Blueberry muffins here we come!

This recipe is a slightly modified version I found at Cooking on Clover Lane. We don't get half and half in Australia, so I had to find a substitute. I'm not sure what the original tastes like, but these were delicious. I also didn't have any lemon extract (and haven't been able to find any) so I used the lemon essence I had at home. I'm going to make this recipe again soon and use a couple of tablespoons of fresh lemon juice in place of some of the milk.

Lemon and Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 cup milk (just less than a cup, I'll explain further)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon essence
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Directions

Preheat oven to 190C/375F. My oven is fan-forced, I don't have the option of turning the fan off, if you don't have a fan-forced oven, increase the temperature to 200C/395F.

Line two 12 hole muffin tins with muffin liners. (I get 20 muffins from this recipe)

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Melt butter in the microwave in a measuring jug for about 15 seconds, add enough milk to bring it up to 1 cup.

Combine the milk/butter mix, eggs, oil, and lemon essence in another bowl. Add to dry ingredients and mix gently until just combined.

Fold in the blueberries, taking care not to smash them up too much.

Spoon into muffin cases and bake for about 18 minutes. I used my #20 ice cream scoop to scoop the muffin mix into the liners and it made perfect muffins that didn't overflow in their cases.

Verdict - delicious!

Christmas-y layout

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:59:00 +0000

One of my wonderful friends allowed me to use her beautiful digital scrapbooking designs when I decided to get rid of that boring stock standard blog design. I met the very talented Kristin Cronin-Barrow from KristinCBDesigns online when we had our first babies. I think my oldest was one year old when I first met Kristin, so that's 7 years ago now. I can't believe that was so long ago! We were both into digital scrapbooking back then, but I went against the grain and when from digitial scrapping to traditional paper scrapbooking. I don't think many people do it that way, but I never claimed to be normal!

I've used papers, elements and the alphabet from her 'Tis the Season - Joy' range over at Sweet Shoppe Designs. If you're looking for something stunning, be sure to check out her designs.

Thanks again, Kristin!

Do You Hear the Silence?

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:24:00 +0000

So much for posting daily! I guess Christmastime wasn't really the best time of year for that to happen.

I've been busy getting things ready for Chrismtas and forgetting to take photos of most of it.

I've been cooking up a storm. I made more cookies, brownies and coconut macaroons for my boys' teacher's gifts and added in little recipe cards that I whipped up until 1 o'clock that morning. Ah well, it was worth it. I really like the way they came out.

I've also been cooking more dinners, which was the whole point of starting up a blog again. It's hard getting back to blogging after being away for so long.

I adjusted my Spaghetti with Bacon and Garlic Sauce recipe and it's much nicer now. I'll put up a post after Christmas with the adjustments. I've also been taking photos of more of my cooking, new recipes to follow after Christmas for those, too.

I've also been crafting just a little. I used to be a pretty obsessed scrapbooker and card maker. I haven't done either in well over a year, probably more like two years. I broke out my Stampin' Up! papers and made origami gift boxes for the boys' Kris Kringle presents for school and just now whipped up another three for family members. If I keep this up I might need to buy more papers!

Recipes I Want to Try

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 00:27:00 +0000

Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The photo of this particular chocolate chip cookie made my mouth water. I really think I need to make them. Right. Now!

Blueberry Crumble Bars

These look quick and easy and could be the perfect lunchbox treat for the kids. I just so happen to have a couple of bags of frozen blueberries in the freezer.

Quick Homemade Pizza.

I've always wanted to made my own pizza, but never got around to it. I'll give this one a go at some stage, possibly next week. With a family of five, I'm guessing I'd need to make at least two.

Tiny Cheese Crackers

They sound delicious and I think they kids would love them as a snack in their lunchboxes. Until last week they were getting a store bought "healthy" treat in their lunchboxes every day. I'm not actually sure how healthy they were, but they loved them. Homemade has to be better than store bought, and they both love cheese. I figure I could make up a batch of this dough and use small pieces at a time and freeze the rest, cooking only what I'd need in a week.

Broccoli Cheddar Ale Soup

This sounds delicious. It's not something I've ever seen in Australia, and certainly never tasted. Having said that, four cups of grated cheese? In soup? That seems like a really, really unhealthy dish to me. Maybe one day.

Ina Garten's 'Beatty's Chocolate Cake'

Two of my favourite cake bloggers have called this chocolate cake their favourite. I figure there's a reason for that. Definitely trying this one soon. This week, in fact, if I can swing it.

ETA: I actually made this one Jan 20th 2011. I made up a half batch just to test the recipe and made cupcakes. It was late at night and my brain wasn't working well and I forgot to halve the eggs. It turned out too egg-y and had a tough crust. It wasn't quite chocolate-y enough for me, but that's probably because the recipe calls for "good" cocoa and I just used my standard Cadbury cocoa powder. I've been looking for better quality (aka more chocolate-y) cocoa for a while. It's not easy to come by in Australia, apparently.

Death by Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate chocolate chip cookies that you can add anything to. Contains a packet of chocolate instant pudding mix.

Crockpot BBQ Chicken and Oven Fries

This one sounds delicious and quick, which is always a bonus. I'm not sure how well it would go down with my family, but I definitely want to try it.

Tortellin Soup from Tasty Kitchen

This one sounds just as tasty as the other version I want to try. I keep forgetting to pick up tortellin at the supermarket, though! I must plan ahead more and hopefully I can do that when the kids go back to school next week!

ETA: I finally made this last night, 22/2/11, and it was absolutely delicious. I made it with spinach and ricotta tortellini and modified the recipe slightly. I'll be posting my modifications soon.

"Better Than Sex" Poke Cake

This cake sounds delicious and possibly heart attack inducing. It's chocolate cake with holes poked into it, covered in sweetened condensed and caramel ice cream toppping, then covered with whipped cream and caramel candy bar pieces. I don't often, like nearly never, bake cakes from a box mix, but I might give into it for this one!

Perfect Chocolate Cake

I just came across the blog One Perfect Bite and saw this chocolate cake. It looks delicious. I'm always on the look out for the perfect chocolate cake. I've been looking for years and never found it. I'll keep you posted!

Chicken Fried Rice

My kids have been asking me to make fried rice for a while. This one sounds pretty good.

I'll be adding to this post as I see recipes I want to try.

Menu Plan Monday 6th - 12th Dec

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 23:46:00 +0000

I've definitely been cooking more, which was the motiviation behind this blog. So, that's a great thing!

Last week's menu plan didn't come off perfectly, as I mentioned in a previous post, but it was pretty close.

I didn't get a chance to sit down and actually plan anything again this week. I'm bad with the planning. That's something I need to work on, but here's what I came up with for this week. Let's see how we go..

Monday: Spaghetti with napolitana sauce and garlic bread

Tuesday: Chicken Massaman with basmati rice

Wednesday: Beef tacos

Thursday: Slow cooker chicken casserole with rice

Friday: Take away/takeout night.

Saturday: Cajun Chicken Salad

Sunday: Impossible Quiche and leftover salad.

I hope I can stick to this pretty stricty this week. I'll let you know how I go. Wish me luck!

Spaghetti with Bacon and Garlic Sauce.

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:58:00 +0000

My first attempt at menu planning was apparently a failure. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday all went according to plan. Thursday and Saturday, not so much. While menu planning on Monday, I forgot that Thursday night was going to be a busy one. My youngest son had a special night at school and I had a meeting later that night. We ended up taking our other two kids to McDonalds for dinner, they wanted to play on the playground.

Tonight, Saturday, also didn't go according to plan. Totally my fault. I had a bag of chicken fillets in the fridge that I bought on Tuesday and then forgot about, they ended up behind something else. So chicken was out for tonight.

I came up with the following, which I'm guessing is sort of like a carbonara sauce, only not. I don't like carbonara, not sure why. I love bacon (who doesn't?!), eggs and cheese, but all together on pasta? No.

I'm sure it's not all that original.

Spaghetti with Bacon and Garlic sauce

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 heaped teaspoon minced garlic
250g bacon with most of the fat removed, chopped into 1/2" squares
3 spring onions (green onions)
200mls cream (I had thickened cream in the fridge)
pinch of chili flakes

Directions:

Heat oil in fry pan and saute garlic. Add bacon, and fry off, but not until crispy. Add chopped spring onions, white and green parts and continue to fry for a minute or two. Reduce heat and add half of the cream and mix well. Add cream little by little until you get the desired consistency, you may not need all the cream. Simmer on low for about five minutes, stirring regularly. You may want to add more cream. Add a pinch of chili flakes.

Serve over freshly cooked spaghetti, or the pasta of your choice.

Notes: Like I said, I threw this meal together without planning it. We had bacon, eggs, cheese, fresh vegies, cream and some other ingredients that didn't appeal to me tonight. I had planned on adding the cheese, a soft cheddar, but after tasting the sauce after the addition of the chili flakes, I decided it was perfect as it was. When we sat down to eat it, it felt a little heavy, though. Next time I'm going to try this recipe with evaporated milk instead and see how that goes. At the very least, it felt like it needed some acid to cut down on the creaminess. Maybe lemon juice or white wine. All in all a lovely dish.

The kids all loved it and our nearly four year old daughter, who said "I don't want it, I'll just have a sandwich" then asked for a taste and ended up finishing her brother's bowl for him when he'd had enough. It's definitely a dish I'll be making again. It was delicious, quickly prepared and quick to cook. What could be better?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 12:40:00 +0000

I felt like a snack around 11am today and since I'm trying to cut down on the amount of junk food we buy, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies. These are our go-to cookie. It's an easy recipe, they taste delicious and everyone who tastes them asks for a copy of the recipe. They are known as 'Sarah's Magic Choc Chip Cookies' by friends and family.

I'm not really sure they're magic. They do taste pretty great, though!

Before I get to the recipe, let me just say that I used two of my most favourite kitchen tools for this recipe - my Candy Apple Red KitchenAid Mixer and my cookie scoop. I even took photos of them. Yeah, I'm kind of crazy when it comes to photos when I get in the mood to take them.


Exhibit A: KitchenAid Mixer

Not a wonderfully composed photo, I'll admit. I'll also admit that just to the right of the photo, past that cup tree is a pile of the kids' school paperwork that is very embarrassing. The kids' rooms are covered in pastings and drawing and painting and.. and.. and.. you get the idea. Anyway, just to the right of this picture is chaos that I was contorting myself around to get the photo of the mixer and not the mess. It'll do for now!

So this is my kitchen pride and joy. I saved up birthday money and Christmas money for a couple of years to buy this. I could have bought it at any time, really, but I could never justify the price; here in Australia they are close to $700. $700 that could be spent on the kids, on bills, on a new lens for one of my other favourite things, again, you get the idea. So, I saved up my money, money that was originally being saved for stamping and card making supplies and bit the bullet and bought it. I kind of justified it by using my money to buy it as a Mother's Day present. It's brilliant and I love it. A lot.

Exhibit B - Cookie Scoop

I have been trying to hunt down a lever action ice-cream scoop to use for cookies for months. Would you believe they are nearly impossible to find here? I saw a couple online at Amazon and the like and always put off buying them. We were out last week buying knives for the boys, I mean Santa was out buying knives for the boys. Ok, let me clarify that. Our boys are aged 8 and 6. They LOVE to cook with me. They love watching reality TV cooking competitions and recently we had one here called Junior MasterChef Australia - a competitive cooking show for kids aged between 8 and 12 years old. The kids loved it. All the kids in the show were given Scanpan Spectrum knives in the utility and Santoku styles. The kids said they were going to ask Santa to bring some for Christmas. The Santoku is basically a cook's knife the right size for kids. We didn't bother with the utility knives as I never use them. I'm pretty much a one knife girl most of the time.

Ok, where was I? Yes, buying the cookie scoop. So, the shop where we bought the knives also had these lever action ice-cream scoops. I bought a size 40 for cookies, which is a bit bigger than I wanted, but the didn't stock the smaller size. This one makes cookies that are about 3" wide, I guess. I prefer small cookies normally, but with how quick cookies are to make with this scoop, I'll settle for the big ones.

I also bought a size 20 which is bigger (the smaller the number, the bigger the scoop), for cupcakes. I haven't tried it out yet, maybe next week. You can usually tell what size your scoop is by looking at the base of the handle, or in the scoop bowl itself. Mine have the size punched in both places.

If you've made it this far, here's the recipe!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

125g of butter
1 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of SR flour
100g milk chocolate chips
100g white chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 170C/355F.

Cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well, scrape down sides of bowl at least once. Add SR flour and mix until just mixed through. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and make sure all flour is incorporated well. Add choc chips and give it a quick mix.

Roll into small balls - if I'm doing these by hand I make 1" balls, when using the cookie scoop they end up much bigger than this, maybe 1 1/2". Place on silicon paper or baking mat covered trays and bake.

Cooking time for 1" hand-rolled balls is 7 mins to get a chewy cookie, 9 mins to get a crisper cookie. Times may vary for your oven, so keep an eye on them for the last two minutes, they could turn dark quicker than expected.

Cooking time for size 40 cookie scoop - approx. 1 1/2" balls is 10 minutes for a chewy cookie and I'm guessing about 12 minutes for a crisper cookie. We prefer the chewy kind so I haven't tested crispy ones with the cookie scoop yet.

Let them cool on their baking sheets for a couple of mintes before transferring them to cooling trays.

I dare you not to eat one right out of the oven. These cookies are worth burning your mouth on!

Note: An Australian 1 cup measure is 250mls, US 1 cup measures are slightly smaller, you may need to add a little more flour.

My First Attempt at Menu Planning

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:58:00 +0000

I'm trying out Menu Plan Monday for the very first time. I think it will help keep me motivated. I'm cheating a little bit because I had a migraine yesterday and shopped for the basics, hoping to put my menu together today, after the fact. Next week I'll sit down and plan before I shop.

Monday: Chicken Massaman with rice. I'll write up a recipe for this later. It's a Thai sweet and sour curry and it's just delicious. Even the kids love it. Again, no photos, because of said migraine. And, hubby helped cook it last night, making it extra delicious.

Tuesday: Fish with corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and vegies.

Wednesday: Roast chicken, cauliflower/brocolli and white sauce, roast potatoes, and peas and corn.

Thursday: Spaghetti and meatballs. I'm cheating with this one and using a store bought jar of sauce, but I am making my own meatballs. I need to make up a batch of my own spaghetti sauce in the next couple of weeks.

Friday: Friday is our weekly take away (take out) day. I doubt that will change, but sometimes I do insist on cooking that day.

Saturday: Chicken schnitzel with scalloped potatoes and vegies.

Sunday: Meatloaf with vegies.

I need to come up with some side dishes that don't involve potatoes. I'm not sure how well they'll go down with the family, though.

Like I said, this is my first attempt at menu planning and I know I could have done better if I allowed myself more time to think about it.

Impossible Quiche

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 12:06:00 +0000

I made Impossible Quiche for dinner a couple of weeks ago because I forgot to take meat out of the freezer - hate when that happens.

What's Impossible Quiche, you ask? Well it's quiche that doesn't have a pastry crust, but it does have flour in the mix which puts a light crusting on the bottom of the mixture. I was shocked at how much my family, including my three young children, LOVED it. Not only did they ask for seconds, but they begged me to make it again "very soon, how about tomorrow?"

I looked in my fridge and pantry to see what I could whip up. I had eggs, milk, and cheese in the fridge. Some bacon in the freezer. Onion in the pantry. I immediately thought I'd whip up a quiche. Then I realised I didn't have any pastry and didn't really have time to make my own. I Googled "crustless quiche" and came up with Impossible Quiche. There were many recipes for similar things. I didn't have anything fancy like chorizo in the house, so I settled for a very basic Quiche Lorraine-style impossible quiche.

Going by the comments on the Taste.com.au site, I adjusted the recipe a bit. Here's what I came up with and it was delicious. I didn't even think to take a photo of the finished product, but it's similar to the one the site up, only with different ingredients.

It was delicious, but not quite perfect. The first time I cooked it I used only 5 eggs and used a mixture of milk and cream, but it came out way too heavy. I'll definitely only use milk in this recipe from now on.

Late Thursday afternoon I forgot the meat again and this is how I modified the recipe again.

Impossible Quiche

Ingredients

6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup SR flour
1 large onion
250g bacon, most of the fat cut off
grated cheese, I'm guessing it was about 1- 1 1/2 cups
salt and pepper to taste, I usually go fairly heavy on the salt with eggs
chopped parsley
1 Tbs olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 190C/375F

Heat oil in frypan. Finely dice onion and saute until translucent. Chop bacon and toss in same frypan as cooked onions and fry off for a few minutes. Transfer to a plate covered in paper towels to drain and cool.

In a bowl, whisk up the rest of the ingredients.

When bacon/onion mix is cool enough spoon half of it into the egg mixture and give it a whisk. Transfer this to your quiche pan/pie plate. Gently drop spoonfuls of the rest of the bacon/onion mix on top of the quiche.

Bake for 35mins.

Notes

The first time I tried the original recipe, all the bacon and onion sank to the bottom of the quiche. Not ideal. This time it was cooked through evenly in the quiche and perfect.

Now, the original recipe says to cook it for 45 minutes, both times my version has cooked well before that time. The first time I used one less egg and only 1 cup of liquid (half cream/half milk) and when I checked the oven at 25 minutes, it was well and truly done, if not a little overdone.

This past Thursday, my second attempt and the recipe above, I checked it at 25 minutes to see how we were going and decided to give it another 10. It came out much better. And tasted much nicer than my first attempt. It's definitely going to a dish I make often.

Getting Back to Blogging.

noreply@blogger.com (Sarah) — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 12:13:00 +0000

Please excuse me while I move things around a bit; it has been a very long time since I've used Blogger. I started blogging back in 2001 when I was pregnant with my first child. I met a wonderful group of women, many of whom I am still friends with today.

I progressed to my own domain and hosting shortly after that in many incarnations. I've written about parenting, cooking, photography, scrapbooking and card making - you name it, I've probably blogged about it.

I gave up my last domain name in 2009 after letting my blog gather dust for nearly a year. This past few months I've felt totally out of the loop. I want to get back to blogging, but more than that I want to motivate myself - if I have to blog about my experiences, I'm forced to actually have experiences. I want to force myself to cook more healthy dinners. Actually, healthy could be a bit misleading. I cook a lot of comfort food, but it has to be healthier than a Big Mac, right?

I also bake. A lot. I used to share my recipes online. I got many emails telling me how my muffins were the best they'd ever tasted. Or how my chocolate chip cookies were so delicious.

Well, now I'm on a journey of my own - I want to try new recipes, and I'm hoping that I'll be motiviated enough to photograph them and maybe I'll inspire more people to cook meals from scratch.

I'll leave it there for now. I hope you'll take this journey with me.