The Beans Blog: February 2012

What We Ate ~ Week 7 ~ 2012

After a full on couple of weeks with five extra people in the house, and basically an empty fridge, I had no idea what we would do for dinner on the Monday after we dropped them all to the airport and then tried not to cry the rest of the day at work ... :)

I was pleasantly surprised when a friend of mine told me that she was cooking her amazing veggie stack and it would be on sale in the cafe that day !! I ordered two, they came with salad, I cooked up some corn on the cob and dinner was taken care of ! Deliciously !

Tuesday night was just as crazy ... I remembered that there was some bacon in the freezer so I just whipped up some of Rory's carbonara and we all inhaled it as quick as possible ... so quickly that I forgot to take a photo !

Wednesday ... still hadn't had time to get to the grocery store so we ordered Indian takeaway ! YUM !

Thursday ... eggs, yep. potatoes, yep. one chicken breast ... defrosted. leftover pesto. one piece of jarlsburg left from burger night.

We worked together and came up with tortilla espanola, chicken topped with pesto and cheese and a garden salad.

Friday night. It was pouring down rain and we were exhausted ! I quickly stopped at the store on the way home from work and got the fixin's for Mom's mac and cheese ! It was perfect !

Last night we tried these buffalo chicken tacos that I found on pinterest (do you pin ? let me know, i'll come follow you !). They were delicious. I didn't do them exactly as on the recipe I've linked ... I'll post my version soon.

No Bake Mini Cheesecakes ... With Baileys !

I found this recipe for No Bake Bailey's Cheesecakes on Pinterest.

Looked too delicious to not try ! We made an adult version &

a kid version too. I changed some of the measurements to

suit our tastes. Here's how I did ours ....

Adult version :
6 butternut snap cookies or other plain sweet cookie
2/3 cup Baileys
250g ricotta cheese
250g philly cream cheese
2/3 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) ... or a little more to taste

Kid version :
6 butternut snap cookies or other plain sweet cookie
2/3 cup chocolate milk
250g ricotta cheese
250g philly cream cheese
2/3 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar) ... or a little more to taste

For each recipe ...

Line a large muffin tin with 6 muffin papers. I didn't actually use the muffin tin, just a plate. I think next time I'll do them in pretty glass cups.

Place a cookie upside down in each muffin paper. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of Baileys (or chocolate milk) over each cookie.

Combine remaining baileys, ricotta, cream cheese and icing sugar in a food processor and whizz until smooth. Divide ricotta mixture between muffin papers and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Churros

Growing up in Spain, churros are a food that takes me back to my childhood. My sister was visiting me last week and brought a block of 'chocolate de la taza' with her. We decided making churros was in order. I'm glad we did. They were delicious !

125ml water
125ml whole milk
110g butter
pinch salt
2 pinches sugar
150g bread flour
3 eggs
canola oil, for frying

Bring water, milk, butter, sugar and salt to the boil in a medium saucepan. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until it comes together into a smooth ball.

Mix this ball in an electric mixer and mix on meduim low speed. When most of the steam has evaporated, add the eggs one at a time. Mix until it comes together. It should be thick and smooth.

Transfer, in batches, to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip.

In a wide pan that has tall sides, fill with canola oil about 3 inches deep. Heat it til a wooden spoon stuck spoon side up in the oil has bubbles around it. Pipe the batter into the oil and cut with scissors. Fry them until golden brown. Remove the churros from the oil and sprinkle with sugar. Serve immediately with spanish hot chocolate.

What on Earth Happened to Weeks 6 & 7 ?!

I'll tell you what happened ! We had a house full of family for two weeks !
My sister Ellie. My brother in law Ryan. And their three sweet boys who are 8, 4 and 1 !!
Visiting from the USA ...

HOORAY !!!

I started the first week trying to take my dinner photo but by day two I forgot ! Day three ... the same. We ate out, we ate in, we ate out, we ate easy, we ate here there and everywhere ...

I just didn't remember.

Back on track this week ...
I've already taken the first photo !!

What We Ate ~ Week 5 ~ 2012

Rory made ribs ... I'm going to have him post the recipe soon ! Served with potato salad. A simple one with bacon, roasted garlic, Japanese mayo, capers, spring onions, and hard boiled eggs.