planning...

I think my favourite passtime of all is planning... I love writting lists and organising how things should go, writting shopping lists and menus and to-do lists! It makes me feel like I have a sesne of control and progress.... even if all it really means is I end up with a pile of paper lol.

My girls were both born in May, three days apart, and their birthday celebrations are so close! Now is the perfect time to start planning! We only have one party a year so I like to make it a big one!! I have the theme selected, very talented friends making the party favours and invitations and im so so excited about writting the recipes and making the menus for the day! I'm not going to share any of those recipes just yet but for today I have two recipes to share. The first is a delicious, no-fuss breakfast and the second is a delicous, lean lunch and dinner idea.

BIRCHER MUSLEI:

I love this creamy muslei for the days that I am in a hurry and need something filling, nutritious and yummy as im rushing out the door! My 10 month old little girl goes nuts for this too! I always make it in advance and leave it overnight and I make enough for 2 or 3 days worth. you can of course change these ingredients up and use low fat where you see fit.

you'll need:
2 cups of museli mix- mine has oats, coconut, sultanas, grains, sunflower seeds and dried pineapple.
1 grated green apple (skin on)
1 tsp honey
1/2 cup of yoghurt - I use full fat vanilla jalna.
1/4 cup of cream or milk
1/4 water.

how to:

combine all the ingredients well and put in a sealed container in the fridge overnight.
to serve you can add some more fresh fruit and a sprinkle of cinnamon.
ENJOY!

Chicken pot pie...

CHICKEN POT PIE.

I love this recipe.. it was my sunday night throw together meal and it turned out great!
This made 6 huge servings and  could easly do 4 for dinner and 4 lunches.

You'll need:
4 sheets of puff pastry
2 large chicken breasts (diced)
olive oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 large carrot diced
1 large zuchinni diced
1 cup of  brocolli
1 cup of cauliflower
1/2 peas
1/2 chicken stock.
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup of flour
1.5 cups of milk
salt and pepper to taste

how to:
1. in a saucepan fry off the garlic, chicken, carrot, zuchinni, cauliflower and brocolli in some olive oil until well browned and fragrant. add salt and pepper.
2. once cooked throw in the butter and flour and mix through the chicken and veges. add the milk and stir until there are no more flour lumps (this will thicken upon baking)
3. pour in the chicken stock and peas and transfer the mix to a large baking dish.
4. cover the baking dish with the puff pastry sheet, ensuring that all of the chicken filling is covered.
5. bake at 200 degrees for 20 minutes or until the pie crust is puffy and golden.

I served this with sliced rosmary potato chips and salad.

ENJOY!

Prawn and Chicken Pad Thai...

This mild and yummy recipe is one of my favourites! So healthy and quick to make! the recipe looks daunting but it really is a quick meal if you have everything on the bench ready to go.

Prawn and Chicken Pad Thai
feeds 6

you'll need:
1 packet of Thai rice noodles (thin or thick it is up to you)
1-2 large chicken breast. (diced)
12 raw peeled prawns
1 carrot (diced)
1 zuchinni (diced)
2 spring onions (sliced)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1/3 cup chicken stock
3tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp palm sugar (grated or finely chopped)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced ginger
2 green or red chillis sliced (you can omit these for a very mild dish)
handful of fresh corriander (torn)
1 cup bean sprouts
chopped peanuts and  lime wedges to serve


how to:

1. In a small bowl make the pad thai sauce. combine the oil, tamarind paste, chicken stock, fish sauce
soy sauce, palm sugar, minced garlic and ginger and the chillis and combine well.
2. put some water on to boil for the rice noodles.
3. in a frypan/wok grill off the spring onions, diced chicken breast, prawns, carrot and zuchinni in a little olive oil until brown- remove the prawns at this point and place them aside to avoid them going tough.
4. pour in the pad thai sauce and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes or until it has reduced a bit.
5. put the rice noodles on to cook- they only take a few minutes to go soft.
6. divide the noodles between 6 bowls.
7. put the prawns back in the sauce and stir through the corriander. divide sauce between the bowls. Top each bowl with crushed peanuts, bean sprouts and a wedge of lime.
ENJOY!

As promised...

Things around here have been pretty crazy! I've added two lots of swimming lessons, gym sessions daily and lots of cake orders to an already crazy schedule and I am starting to find myself a little time poor! But here are the recipes, as promised!
I wont say much today but I'm going to try and pump these recipes out and I'll be sure to add photos as soon as I make these again!

ENJOY!

Thick vanilla bean custard


you'll need:


2 cups of milk
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp cornflour
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup milk (additional)


How to:

1. heat the milk in a saucepan, stirring occasionally but do not let it come to the boil.
2. in a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar and the seeds of one vanilla bean until smooth and well combined.
3. combine the cornflour with the additonal milk and stir until there are no lumps left, combine the milk and cornflour mix with the eggs, vanilla and sugar and mix well.
4. pour the hot milk into the eggs mixture and whisk until combined, return now to the saucepan and put over a low heat.
5.whisk continuously over a low heat as it thickens slowly. keep going until it has thickened to desired consistency.
6. eat when warm or leave aside to cool and then refrigerate fro 24-48 hours. this recipe will thicken more upon cooling.

ENJOY!

recipes for the sweet tooth!

soI never used to be much of a sweet tooth, always opting for a second helping of dinner over dessert; then about a year ago something changed and I fell in love with eating desserts as well as just making them! cheesecakes, black forest, mousse, custards, mudcake, ganache, choc chip cookies, muffins, macaroons... SO YUMMY!!
As time goes on, I am getting much better at baking and today I would like to share two yummy sweet recipes with you- the yummiest choc chip cookies I've ever made and some delicious and easy vanilla bean custard!

so without further ado:

PUFFY CHOC CHIP COOKIES!
these cookies are crunchy on the edges and chewy in the middle like a subway cookie! so good!
makes about 40
approx 73calories per cookie.

Ingredients:
130g salted butter
1 vanilla bean
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup SR flour
1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of choc chips (I used cadbury dream and milk chocolate melts- chopped)

How to:
1. line 2 (or 4) trays with baking paper. preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcuis. (200 degrees if not fan forced)
2. Beat butter, vanilla and sugars together until creamy, add the egg and beat for about one minute on high until well incorporated- scraping the sides down as you go.
3. add the flours together and mix in well with a spatula until there are no flour lumps.
4. add the choc chips and mix well.
5. roll into teaspoon sized balls and place on baking paper trays about 5 cms apart to avoid them joining while baking.
6. bake for about 10-13 minutes or until they are puffy and lightly golden around the outside but still very soft. the longer you leave them in the crunchier they will be.
7. ENJOY!

Making time for the important things...

It's really hard some days to prioritise the things I have on my plate, and when a moment to rest comes along I can never decide if I should take it, or if I should push on and hope another oportunity shows itself soon!
For the last few weeks ive been crazy busy with school routine, baking, cake decorating, trying to sort out some business things, maintain friendships, get in an hour of gym a day, maintain my relationship.... and so the list goes on! I have been doing heaps of cooking lately but havent had much time for recipe writting, which unbalances me as I really love the escape that writting brings me! I guess this is just one of those times in my life where things just need to keep running and I just need to keep up!! Sink or swim, as they say.

While this year promises many big things for me and my little family, I must remember that the real joy to be found isnt in far off plans or ideas for tomorrow... it is about RIGHT NOW!! choosing all the small moments to really embrace exactly who I am, who I want to be and appreciate every second that I have with the people I love!!

I'm just about to run off to snuggle my babies to sleep and clean the kitchen after a big day of baking so im going to promise to be back in the next few days with some fresh new recipes, but until then, here is my Favourite breakfast recipe, this one is quickly becoming my go-to breakfast and I just throw on a whole heap of salad ingredients I have in my fridge. Very, very yummy and not too bad for you either! I team this wrap with a banana and a glass of water and it keeps me going all morning! no need for morning tea, which is helpful if you're watching your calories! You can replace the bacon with some low fat ham or just omit it all together.

MUSHROOM AND BACON BREAKFAST WRAPS:

youll need -
2 rashers of bacon
4 large button mushrooms
1 egg
cucumber (1/2 cup grated)
carrot (1/3 cup grated)
handful of rocket
low fat mayo (1 tsp)
grated cheese (optional)

how to-
1. In a frypan, fry the bacon and mushrooms together until the bacon is crispy and the mushrooms are nicely browned. remove them from the frypan and quickly fry the egg, scrambling it as it cooks.
2. lay out a fresh lebanese bread (or wrap, mountain bread etc) and spread on the mayo. Put the cucumber, carrot and rocket on the wrap and add the cheese if you'd like.
3. Add the bacon, mushrooms and egg to the wrap and fold it however youd like.
4. ENJOY!!

Huge garden chilli harvest = Chilli con carne!

My vegetable garden has been quite successful over the last 8 months or so, bringing in a pretty constant stream of herbs, silverbeet, rocket, cherry tomatoes and CHILLI! My chilli bush has been thriving in the last few weeks and I like to wait until I have six or more huge red ones to go with all the small ones before I bust out this recipe.
My favourite spicy, hot, comfort food is chilli con carne! I dont think I've ever met a recipe for this that I dont like! Served with spring onion, sour cream and corn chips and you cant go wrong!! I'm still working on my recipe... I dont think I will ever have a final version, so for now, here is my Chilli con carne recipe.

Chilli con carne

you'll need:

600grams beef mince or diced beef.
1 small brown onion
4 tbsp ground cumin
1tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tbsp minced garlic
8-12 small green or red chillis (I used a combination of both)
2 spring onions sliced (1 to serve)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 jar of passata
fresh corriander
2 tins of bertolli beans (or any beans you like)
1 beef stock cube
1.5 litres of water
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

The how to:

1. Slice up the spring onions and put half in a big stock pot and put the other half to the side for garnish. slice the brown onion and all your chillies, add them to the pot with the olive oil, salt and pepper and garlic and let that fry off for a minute or two. try not to breathe the smoke in because it will BURN your eyes and throat.

2. After a few minutes of browing the onion and chillies you can throw in the mince (or meat) and the oregano, cummin and paprika and brown that really well. If it starts to stick to the pan feel free to add some more olive oil.

3. After the meat is browned add your tomato paste to the meat and chillies and fry that off for a couple of seconds before adding in the stock cube, 2 tins of beans (juice included) and the water. stir until well combined.

4. Throw in the fresh corriander (as much as you'd like) and the jar of passata. Boil and reduce this for 45-60 minutes, adding more water if you need it along the way.

5. Serve on rice, as tacos/tortilla wraps or with sour cream, shallots and corn chips!  ENJOY!