Cold Buster Broth

The cold season has hit and after too many days of coughing and sneezing and stuffy heads, we started fighting back with this.  It feels healthy alllll the way down to your toes!

Cut top of one head of garlic and rub in some olive oil.  Wrap the garlic in foil and bake for 30 to 40 minutes at 400 degrees or until garlic is soft.  Let cool and then pop all of the garlic cloves out of their skins.

Meanwhile, slice one to two onions and grate 1/4 to 1/2 cup of fresh ginger (I found that if you slice it you end up with woody strings in your soup).  Peel 26 cloves of raw garlic (or use the prechopped stuff...I did this because the cold was kicking my butt and I didn't have enough energy to peel that much garlic!). 

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add onion, ginger, and 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme and 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper.  Cook until onions are translucent (about six minutes).  Add roasted and raw garlic and cook another three minutes. 

Add 3 1/2 cups veggie or chicken broth, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Puree soup in a blender or with a stick blender until smooth.  Add 1/2 cup coconut milk (I only had coconut water one time I made this and it turned out fine).  You can either squeeze a slice of lemon into each serving or squeeze one whole lemon into the entire batch.  I forgot lemons at the store, but I have a bunch of limes, so I'm going to try two or three limes instead of a lemon and see how it goes.

The soup is pretty strong.  My husband enjoys it that way, but me and the kids, not so much.  I do about a half a mug of soup and then fill the rest of the mug with more chicken broth.  It's still intense but tasty and helped us feel better!

Serve hot.  You can store the soup for a day or two in the fridge.

Bacon topped Roasted Pumpkin and Cauliflower Soup

This soup was so easy and delicious I have to write down how I made it so that I can make it again next winter! It all started because I didn't cook a meal I had planned which left me with half of a pumpkin and a head of cauliflower that really needed to be used.  I didn't really have a piece of meat or any potatoes to go with them so a roast was not on the table.  I didn't want to go to the shops ... you know, it was one of those days!  We all have them, right?! So, I scrounged around and this is what I came up with.

1/2 of a Kent pumpkin

1 head of cauliflower 

1 head of garlic

A couple of onions

I chopped the pumpkin and cauliflower, peeled and quartered the onions, and just peeled the garlic.  I put all of that in a large baking dish (lined with baking paper of course) and coasted with olive oil.  I roasted them in the oven on like 180C (350F) until the pumpkin was soft and the cauliflower was starting to brown. 

I put all of that into my blender, added a bit of chicken stock and blended it to a thick soup consistency. 

We love toppings on our soups too so while the veggies were roasting, I chopped up the following.

1 small onion

A couple cloves of garlic

A few rashers of bacon

I fried them all together ... starting with the bacon because it takes a bit longer ... then adding the garlic and onion and cooking til garlic is not longer bitter and onions are soft.

I served the soup in a bowl, sprinkled with the topping. 

I had intended to grab a few chives out of the garden as well to sprinkle on the top, but I forgot!  Oh well ... next time!

Garlic Prawns and Scallops - In the Thermomix

I had been craving prawns and decided to try Tenina's Garlic Prawn Recipe. I made that decision while I was at the shops but wasn't exactly sure what ingredients I had at home. I ended up having most of what I needed but had to improvise a little bit when I didn't have everything.  Also, Rory and I love scallops so I added those!  Here is my modified version.  PS ... this is done entirely in the Thermomix.

 

6 largish cloves of garlic

25g extra virgin olive oil

10 green prawns, shelled and deveined (I can buy them this way at my fish shop!

35g dry sherry

a pinch of pepper

35g cream

lemon juice, to garnish

a few branches of parsley, to garnish

 

Put garlic and olive oil into Thermomix bowl and chop 4 sec/speed 5. Scrape down sides of bowl and saute 5 min/Varoma/speed 1.  Add prawns and cook 5 min/Varoma/Reverse/speed 1 with MC off. Add scallops, sherry, pepper and cream and cook 2 min/Varoma/Reverse/speed 1 with MC off.  While this is happening, chop your parsley.  Stir through when cooking is finished.  I served this over a bed of rice, with a squeeze of lemon.

Crock Pot Baked Potato Soup

I found this recipe at A Year Of Slow Cooking. You all know about that blog right ? No ... well, you need to go check it out !! The blog author, Stephanie, made a new years resolution to use her crock pot EVERY DAY for the year 2008 !! And she did it ! So, yeah, no shortage of crock pot recipes over there !!!

I modified the recipe just a little ... here's how I did mine.

2.5 lbs (just over a kilo) potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pinch chili powder
1 quart chicken broth ( i used water and stock cubes)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, to add at the end
crumbled bacon, spring onions and avocado to serve

Put everything minus the cream cheese, bacon, spring onions and avocado into the crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for 4. (I did high last night) The potatoes should be fork-tender. Add the cream cheese and put lid back on to let cream cheese melt.  I left it for about 20 minutes.

Cook the bacon.

Get your stick blender into the crock pot and blend everything together.

Garnish with crumbled bacon, spring onions and avocado !! Delish !!

My husband who "doesn't like soup" had two helpings of this last night and took if for lunch today !! Soon he will have to stop making the "i don't like soup" statement because he likes many many soups now !!

Chargrilled Salmon with Asparagus in a Lime Vinaigrette

I got this recipe out of the same delicious magazine as the fish recipe.

I made a couple of changes ... here you go with my modified recipe:

salmon fillets. i used 2 big ones for the four of us.
olive oil (to cook fish)
bunch of asparagus
grated zest and juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tbls capers ... I used ones in salt ... DON'T do that !! Way too salty !!
a couple of cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tbls extra virgin olive oil
fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
fresh tarragon, finely chopped

Rory always cooks the fish on the BBQ with a bit of olive oil and salt/pepper.  He does that while I get the rest of the stuff ready ...

Meanwhile, roast asparagus in oven. (10/15 minutes).

Top asparagus with remaining ingredients. Season.

Place fish on plates. Top with asparagus mix.

I served this with greek croustade.

Garlic Roasted Chicken Leg Quarters

Since I am now feeding the masses and chicken leg quarters is definitely the cheapest way to buy chicken, I've been looking for recipes that will add some variety to the bbq sauce or Italian dressing I had been seasoning the chicken with (both yummy...but I was getting ready for a change).  I found this recipe somewhere online (can't remember where!) and it was given a hearty thumbs up by the boys last night.  In parentheses are changes I made and the amounts I used to feed 7 (including 3 teenage boys) with a few leftovers for lunches.

Ingredients:

• 4 (12) cloves garlic, finely minced (I used my nifty Pampered Chef garlic press)
• 1 (3) teaspoon dried leaf oregano (I didn't have any, so used basil instead)
• 1/2 (1 1/2) teaspoon salt
• 1 (1 1/2 - PJ and I are what the Japanese call kitten tongues) teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 (1) teaspoon ground cumin (I love cumin and made up for the lower amount of chili powder here)
• dash freshly ground black pepper (I used white pepper because I like it better)
• 2 (6) tablespoons olive oil
• 4 (12 - three family packs) chicken leg quarters
• 1/2 (1 1/2) cup chicken broth (part dry white wine, if desired)

Preparation:

Heat oven to 425°.

Combine the garlic, oregano, salt, chili powder, cumin, and black pepper. Add olive oil and mix well. Use a mortar and pestle to make a paste consistency, or mash with a fork.  (I used a fork and it worked well)

Wash chicken leg quarters and pat dry. Snip off any excess skin (Glenn also cut the pieces apart). Arrange the chicken pieces in a baking dish and pat the garlic mixture over each quarter. (I spooned it on and then spread it around with my fingers) Pour 1/2 cup of chicken broth (part dry white wine, if desired) into the baking dish. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until juices run clear.
Serves 4 (or the masses!).

Roasted Garlic, Cauliflower and Mushroom Quinoa

I made this the other day to take for lunches.  I didn't take a photo until I was halfway through eating it ... sorry!

I had found this recipe on pinterest.  But ... I was tasting as I went along and I decided that it didn't need the balsalmic dressing and goats cheese ... it was nice just like it was.  And even better the next day after the flavours had developed over night!

Here's what I did:

1 head of cauliflower, broken into small florets

a few cloves of garlic, cut into slivers

mushrooms, button and oyster, quartered

1 cup quinoa

1.5 cups water

1 chicken stock cube 

thyme

salt and pepper

olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F/200C

Toss the cauliflower, garlic and mushrooms in olive oil.  Add salt and pepper and thyme.  Mix.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until starting to brown.  Don't let them burn!  Stir half way through ...

While the veggies are cooking, make the quinoa.  Place quinoa in a small pot with the water and the chicken stock cube (break it up and stir it in) (or just use ready made chicken stock/broth) Bring to the boil.  Reduce heat, cover and let simmer ... about 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.  Fluff up quinoa with a fork and let sit til veg is ready.

When veg is ready, mix into quinoa.  

Easy.

And like I said, delicious the next day too!

Bacon Salad. With Bacon.

 

So, the other night, Ellie was cooking a putanesca (not this one but if you want to try one, this is a good one to try) for dinner.  I was tasked with making a salad.  Ryan had seen a salad he wanted to try that was topped with bacon and pumpkin seeds.  Turns out the salad he was thinking about was actually a soup so we never did find a recipe.  No biggie though.  I threw this little beauty together and it was DELICIOUS!

There aren't really measurements ... it's a salad.

Bacon, however much you like.

Red Onion

Garlic, I think I used about eight cloves

Spinach
Avocado

Mushrooms
Mixed seeds (my mix was pumpkin, sunflower and pine nut)
Fresh Parmesan cheese

Dry toast the seeds in a small frying pan until just brown.  Just enough for a topping.  You don't see my seed topping in the photo because we had to change platters while we were assembling the salad so my seeds are actually on the bottom!  Anyway ... set the seeds aside.

Chop bacon, dice onion, sliver the garlic and saute together.   While that is cooking, slice the mushrooms and add to bacon mixture when it's just about done.

On a large platter, lay spinach.  Top with bacon mixture.  Chop avocado and lay on top of salad.  Sprinkle with seeds and grate parmesan cheese on top.

I didn't add any dressing. 

I like to think that the bacon was the dressing. 

But, you could add dressing if you like ...

Roasted Garlic & Eggplant Dip with Almond Crackers

I picked an eggplant out of my garden this morning and went looking for a recipe to make a garlic eggplant dip. I found this recipe on pinterest ... I watched the video, took a couple notes and had it in the oven 10 minutes later !

While the eggplant was roasting, I went back to pinterest (my starting point for any recipe search these days!) and found an interesting looking recipe for crackers made out of almond meal. They looked easy to make. They were. 

I'll just write down the steps for the eggplant and then I'll tell you how to do the crackers.  Watch the video for the dip ... it's quite good and it's easier to understand than the written instructions will be.  And it cracks me up at the end when they just stand there munching on the crunchy crackers !

For the dip ... no real measurements as you'll see in the video.
Eggplant
Garlic cloves
Green chilli, I took the seeds out of mine and sliced them long
Olive oil
Salt
Lemon, for squeezing
Red Onion, finely diced
Fresh Coriander (Cilantro), chopped

Preheat oven to 230C/450F.

Make four long slits down the length of the eggplant.  Don't cut all the way through but go down far enough that you can stick stuff inside it.  I had to slice my garlic to fit inside the slits but in the video they leave them whole.  Put garlic and green chilli into the slits.  Put eggplant on a piece of foil and then drizzle eggplant with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Wrap up foil tightly.  Place in a small casserole dish and bake for 1 hour.  

When done baking, immediately remove eggplant from foil and put into the casserole dish.  Score skin on underside and then mash everything with a potato masher ... yep, skin and all !  Set aside to cool.

When cool, add red onion and coriander.  Season with salt and lemon juice til it's to your liking.

For the crackers ... 
I found this recipe on Home Cooking In Montana and she found it on Caveman Food.

1 cup almond meal
1 egg white
salt

Preheat oven to 350F/180C (although, I think I might go a bit cooler next time ... maybe 160/170)

Mix almond meal, egg white and pinch of salt.  Mix with a fork.  Roll into a ball.  If it's too sticky, add a bit more almond meal.  Put ball between two pieces of baking paper and roll out thin.  Cut (I used a pizza cutter) into squares and then lay on a baking tray.  I used the baking tray upside down because the crackers hung over the edge a bit ...

Bake 5-8 minutes or til crackers are golden.  Watch them towards the end because they brown up real quick !

Thai Chicken Soup

This is a soup that everyone needs to try at least once in their life !  Of course, once you've tried it, you'll want it again and again !

When I originally posted the recipe, I didn't do it with measurements or anything ... In fact, here is what I said "Ok ... for those of you who like exact measurements, this recipe is not for you. Actually, I am a person who likes exact measurements but I've made this a number of times now from these instructions my sister gave me and I haven't messed it up yet !!"

But last night I made it again and I wrote down measurement so that you could have them and feel a bit more confident about trying to make this.  I also took photos of each component so you can see what you are aiming to make ! 

I cooked for four of us last night.  Two adults and two kids who love this soup and eat as much as the adults.  We each had two bowls.  There were no leftovers.  (except of the stock, lime juice and spring onions!)

Here's what you need:

8 Cups Chicken Stock or Chicken Stock Cubes (Stock = Boullion)

5 Pork Ribs or Pork Stock Cubes

6 Tablespoons Fish Sauce

3 Tablespoons + 1/4 cup Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce

2 Chicken Breasts

3 Limes

Thai peppers or 2 Teaspoons Chilli Garlic Sauce
1 Teaspoon Sugar

4 Cups Rice (I use sushi rice but you can use what you like)

Fresh Cilantro (Aussies - Coriander)

Green Onions (Aussies - Shallots or Spring Onions)

2 Heads of Garlic (more or less depending on you !)

8 Tablespoons Olive Oil

So, I usually start with the stock because it needs to simmer for a while !

I use 8 cups of already made chicken stock (in the box from the supermarket), although last night I didn't have any and just used water and stock cubes and it was great.  Add 6 more cups of water and a couple of chicken stock cubes and the pork ribs (or pork stock cubes if you can get them, I can't.)Add 1/4 cup Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce and 2 Tablespoons of Fish Sauce.   Boil for at least an hour.  Although, if you are using the pork stock cubes, you probably wouldn't need to boil it for that long ...

What is this Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce ?? Don't know exactly but here's what the bottle looks like. When we were in Colorado, Ellie used one called Gold Label ... I found it in a little Asian shop here. Ellie says it's Thai or Vietnamese. I'll give you the ingredients. That's how I made sure I had the right thing .. It's soy bean sauce, water, sugar salt and food enhancer ...

The chicken. Cut the breasts into small pieces. Ellie says bite sized but I think she did them a bit smaller than bite sized. I guess it's your preference. You can see what size I do mine in the picture above.

Marinate the chicken in 3 Tablespoons Golden Mountain, I usually marinate while I'm getting a few other things ready and then fry the chicken towards the end.  Just with a bit of oil in a fry pan ... 

I put my rice in the rice cooker and forget about it. If you are cooking it another way, you may want to wait til later to cook it so that it is still warm when you eat.

For the funky lime sauce. In a bowl add the juice of 3 limes and a bit of Golden Mountain (oops, I forgot to add this last night ... I'd say add about a teaspoon), 4 Tablespoons Fish Sauce, 1 teaspoon sugar, 4 Tablespoons water and some chopped up Thai Peppers. I can't get those so I use 2 teaspoons chili/garlic sauce out of a jar.

Ellie said to use about 1/2 the amount of fish sauce as you do lime but I think that's a bit too much fish sauce so I don't put as much in.  You should adjust it to your taste !

Press the garlic through the garlic press. I do two or three heads of garlic but we are garlic freaks around here. So - you choose how much but press your garlic and set it aside. Heat the oil.  I use olive oil and last night I used 8 Tablespoons.  I have a small rectangular pan that I cook this in.  You should use the smallest fry pan you've got and if it's bigger you'll need to adjust the oil.  Ellie told me to use enough oil so that the garlic floats when you are cooking it. So ... get your oil real hot and then add the garlic. Cook it til it starts to brown. But don't burn it !! :)

Chop the cilantro (coriander), put it in a bowl and set it aside. 

Same with the spring onions.

To serve -- put all of these on the table -- the stock, the rice, the funky lime sauce, the garlic (in it's oil), onions, cilantro and the chicken. I also put the chili/garlic sauce on the table in case anyone wants to make theirs spicier.

To eat -- everyone needs to put this into their bowl -- Ellie does it in this order ... Rice, chicken, garlic, green stuff ( cilantro and onions ) funky lime sauce and finally the stock.  I've discovered that I prefer this order ... Rice, chicken, stock, funky lime sauce, onions and top it off with garlic and cilantro (coriander).  No matter what order you use, get all this stuff into the bowl and eat it.  You won't be sorry !!


**
PS ... we let the children decide what they put in theirs.  Jono does everything but the lime sauce and cilantro.  Alia only has chicken, rice and stock.  If we are under the weather, I make her have garlic too !  She told me last night (and it was a night that I made her have garlic) that this is her FAVORITE SOUP !

Creamy Ham and Greens

 

So, last night was a bit of a scrounge around and see what I could find to make for dinner.  I need to go shopping but I'm really not motivated to do it because we have two late sporting nights ... tonight and tomorrow ... and then it's Friday ... and then we have another Christmas party ... and I'm waiting on the $250 food voucher that should be coming today ( it was part of the deal we got when we bought our new fridge last week )  And ... And ... And ... 

What I came up with was ... spanish tortilla ... potatoes baked like for spicy potatoes but without the spicy.

I had some ham in the freezer that needed using, I had silverbeet, rainbow chard and kale in the garden that needed picking, I had a bit of cream leftover from Rory's birthday carbonara and I always have garlic and onion on hand .... 

This is what came of those ingredients.

1.5 cups slivered ham, chopped ( I had a triple smoked one )
3 cups mixed greens, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 a red onion, diced
cream,  (I only had 1/4 of a cup and I think it was plenty !)

Start with a bit of olive oil in the bottom of your pan, add garlic and ham.  I started with the heat pretty hot and then turned it to medium pretty quick.  Once the garlic and ham have started to brown, add onion.  Cook a minute or two more than add the greens.  Cook a minute or two and then add the cream.  Cook a minute or two more ... or until the cream is no longer runny and seems to be coating the other ingredients.  Serve hot.  So yum !!

This served the four of us.

Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup

I saw this recipe over at the flour sack and just HAD TO TRY IT ! I am so glad I did ! This is one delicious soup. I made a few adjustments though. I LOOOOOVE roasted garlic and decided that it would be amazing in this soup ... it was.

Here's how I did mine ...

3 blobs of butter (I didn't really measure, just scooped)
1 leek, sliced (I just slice til I get up to the dirty bits)
1 bunch of spring onions (They needed to be used up but they were a good addition)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 whole garlic heads, chop of the top (you know, the part that holds them all together)
6 cups chicken stock
a bay leaf
salt
pepper
700g (1.5lb) potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
450g (1lb) red potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes
1/2 cup cream (although, I didn't measure and may have used a little more)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme
a hand full of fresh chives, minced
garlic chips ... (thinly sliced garlic, shallow fried in olive oil til golden brown)

Preheat oven to 200C (400F), wrap your two garlic heads in tin foil and let roast in oven til softened. (I think it took about 30/40 minutes) Prepare rest of ingredients.

Melt the butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add leaks and spring onions, cook til soft. Stir in garlic and cook another minute or so, til it smells GREAT ! Add broth, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Partially cover and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and continue to simmer til potatoes are tender. 15 minutes ? 20 ? Pull out the bay leaf. By now, your garlic should be roasted. Squeeze garlic out of the skins into a small bowl. Smush it up with a fork. Put it, along with the cream and thyme into the soup. Check your seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Use your zoop zoop (stick/immersion blender) to process the soup til creamy ... leave a few potato chunks if you like. Sprinkle with garlic chips and fresh chives.

the mini-me ~ a bella russia original

last night we did pizza night with friends

it is tradition with these friends that you make your signature pizza on your first visit

so, last night ... it was Bel's first visit ... and she pulled off a ripper

THE MINI-ME

she calls it

You will need ...

Pizza dough
Tomato based pizza sauce
Kalamata olives, diced
Red onion, slivered
Feta cheese, finely diced
Broccoli, finely diced
Sun dried tomatoes, finely diced
Fresh parsley
Mozarella

Yogurt or sour cream
Garlic, crushed
Fresh chives, chopped

Here's how you make it ...

Mix yogurt (or sour cream) with garlic and chives to taste. Set aside.

From Bel ... and I quote "The key with the mini-me is the spacing and finely chopped-ness. It is a vegetarian dish from the backstreets of Florence. The recipe has been passed down through families over centuries and was initially dated back to some time near AD250."

Everything after her first sentence may or may not be fictional ....

Using your favorite pizza dough, spread it with a tomato based pizza sauce, evenly space all ingredients (as you will see demonstrated in the photo below). Top with a light sprinkling of mozzarella. Cook in pizza oven, BBQ or oven .... you decide.

Top with garlic chive yogurt ...

my birthday dinner ....

it was my birthday a couple of days ago.

my husband planned the most amazing surprise !

you can read about the whole day over on my simple beauty blog but

i'm just going to cut and paste and share the food bits of the story for you here ...

let's start with ... my neighbors coming over with birthday cocktails

i love having neighbors who are such a bit part of our lives !



when rory gets home, he says

'would you be totally disappointed if i told you i've made a reservation for us at a restaurant ?'

ummmm ... let me think about this for a minute ?!

i still don't have to cook ?

i get to go out ?

yeah ... i'm good !

rory got a phone call just as we were ready to leave, from our friend craig

he said 'we've got a present for bonnie,

would you guys swing by and pick it up on your way to dinner ?'

up until that phone call, i had NO IDEA anything suspicious might be happening

after that ... i wondered if all wasn't as it appeared !

but ... i had NO IDEA of the amazing surprise that lay in wait for me

weeks of planning, international conversations, importing of food

so ... we get to C & J's place to 'pick up the present'

and the house is all decorated

and something smells incredible ... (and very familiar)

and then there were shouts of surprise and the faces of other friends i love

rory hands me an envelope and says

'this is my present to you'

inside the envelope is this menu .........



the foods of my childhood !

and VONGOLE !

(my requested birthday dinner every year since we had lived in Italy !)

now ... this is no easy feat ... because in my little girls mind, the vongole (clams)

HAVE TO BE IN THEIR SHELL

well ... you can't get that here ...

in fact, you can't get clams here at all, unless they are in a can

so Rory IMPORTED them from New Zealand

can you believe that ?!



the food was amazing.

APPARENTLY, they had been cooking all afternoon ... I thought Rory was 'working late' !

Here's the Patatas Alioli and the Champinones Al Ajillo con pan (with bread), of course.



And then came the never ending supply of Gambas Al Ajillo ... OH YUM !!



Master Chefs in action ...



Amazing team work ...



And here's the Traditional Vongole ... with homemade fettucine ...

I'll have to find out what recipe he used for this ... he said it was a Jamie Oliver one.



And the Vongole like my Mom used to make, only with a spicy Casa de Ross twist.

And this recipe too, I'll have to write it down and share it with you ... it's a spicy tomato sauce ...

mmmmmmm !!!



Do you know one thing I loved about this night ?

There were so many things I loved ... but here's just one.

I loved that I was the only known clam lover of the bunch but they still cooked this for me !

And (almost) everyone tried the clams ! Some even liked them !

All of these dishes were new to everyone besides me and Rory, and everyone tried them !

And again ... liked (and even loved) them !

I love the adventurous nature of this group of friends !

And I love that they love to celebrate life.

**

Mom ... Rory insisted that I take this photo for you ....

**

Empty shells !!



Cheesecake.

When we were little, it was tradition in our house that all birthday cakes had to be chocolate.

So ... we have gazillions of birthday pictures of us COVERED IN CHOCOLATE !

BUT, once we were old enough to request our own birthday cake preference ... mine was

ALWAYS cheesecake (with cherries on top) !

My sweet friend Donna recently learned this about me and though she had never made one

before, she baked me the most wonderful birthday cheesecake ! with berries ! oh my !



and Jodie made cupcakes

that I have yet to try

but some came home with us and I will be having one for breakfast !



I was crowned 'birthday queen' and actually wore my 'crown' for a good hour.

Not the mask though ... it was way too hot for that !



Spoiled ? Yeah ... I can't disagree.



I have an amazing, thoughtful, selfless husband,

kind, encouraging and giving children,

enthusiastic, creative and (SNEAKY!!) friends,

an extended family like none other,

friends all over the world (thanks to the Navy and now facebook !) that i love

AND

to top it all off ....



my very own website !!



I cannot wait for you all to see it !

Well ... you can sort of see it here but I've crossed off it's name (which you are going to LOVE)

because I don't want you to go there just yet.

I'll let you know when you can !

Craig and I are going to play with it a bit more first ...

by the way, Craig ... who is a music lover, not a web guru, designed this !

Look out world !

**

All in all ... this has been my best, most favorite birthday ever.

Thanks to everyone who was a part of it !

~ bon ~

Easy Peasy Quiche

Years ago, a friend of mine gave me this recipe. It's such a good recipe because you can pretty much throw anything in it !

Mix together:
3 eggs
1/2 cup self raising flour
1 & 1/2 cups milk
1 cup grated cheese
1 cup filling (whatever you like)

Throw it all in a quiche dish and bake in the oven. I did mine on 180 and I think it took about 30 minutes but play with it. Next time I make one, I'll make note of how long it took ...

The one pictured here was really nice.

I cooked up a bit of bacon, onion and garlic. Once that was cooked, I threw in some white wine. I didn't measure, just poured it in. Maybe 1/4 of a cup ? I reduced that til there was no liquid left. Chopped up a handful of mushrooms and threw them in. I also had some leftover chicken so I chopped that up and threw it in. I had a little square of cream cheese that needed to be used. I melted that in with the bacon once it was cooked. I added a bit of salt and pepper too. I thought about adding some fresh herbs but in the end I didn't. Maybe it was raining and I didn't feel like going out to the garden ?

Anyway ... this is a great dish to get creative with. You really can't stuff it up ! Just make sure you don't add too much extra liquid !

Bonnie's Carbonara Pizza

(photo taken on my iPhone)

Ok ... so this was super easy to make ! AND so delicious !

One pizza base ... I used Craig's dough recipe ... I still need to post that for you. Soon. I'd do it now but I'm going to have to do it as a video post because it's a show you, not tell you kind of recipe ...

2 red onions, caramelized
1 head of garlic, roasted (cut off top of cloves, wrap in tin foil and put in preheated 200C oven while onions caramelize) (here's a good recipe to show you how to roast garlic ...)
A couple of rashers of bacon, chopped
A bit of cream ... maybe 1/2 of a cup ?

So ... in my big electric fry pan, I caramelized the onions then pushed them to one side and cooked the bacon in the same pan. When the bacon is cooked, add the cream and stir the lot together. Get the garlic that has been roasting out of the oven, squeeze cloves into bacon/onion mixture. Stir. I chopped up the garlic a bit with my spatula so it mixed real well. Spread this mixture onto the pizza base. Grate fresh Parmesan cheese on top. Put into still-hot -from-the- garlic oven for about 15 minutes or til dough is cooked.

That's it.

So yum !

PS ... I think I might add some rosemary next time ...

Buffalo Boneless Wings ... And Ranch

Ok ... let's start with the Ranch recipe. I got this from Shay and it is delicious !

I'm going to cut and paste from the email she sent me ....

My freaking favorite ranch
I don't worry too much about which herbs to use but I always use fresh dill. That makes it. I like a lot of dill. You can play around with this one. All to taste and texture.
I like to double but that makes a good bit-this is for one batch.

1/2 c. mayo
1/2 c. buttermilk, shaken
1 tbsp. dijon mustard
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
4 scallion chopped
1 garlic, minced
2 tbsp. dill
2 tbsp. chives
1 tbsp. tarragon, or 1/2 tsp. dried
2 tbsp. parsley
dash worchestershire
dash hot sauce
1/2 tsp. salt, plus more to taste

whisk all

I did this in the afternoon and put it in the fridge until dinner time ....

For the 'wings'.

I did 1 kilo of chicken breast. Cut into chunks (see photo above). I put some whole wheat flour in a ziplock bag, added the chicken, shook it around then then shallow fried these in olive oil til golden brown.

For the hot 'buffalo sauce"

If you're in the States, you'll use Franks but I can't get that here ! BUMMER ! But, I found this Louisiana hot sauce the other day. It was a darn good substitute !! Not a cheap substitute though ! This bottle cost $9.99 and it was just under a cup of hot sauce !

So ... melt 2 TBSP of butter in the microwave. Add 1 cup hot sauce. Mix. Put back in the microwave and make it hot. Add 'wings' and mix to coat.

For the Garlic Parmesan "wings"

Melt 1/2 a cup butter. Then add to it 2 tsp (3?? ... to taste) garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion salt, 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Put back in microwave and make it hot. Add 'wings' and toss to coat !