Recent Posts
Potato, Apple and Rocket Soup
Having written about my cooking game in the previous post, it got me thinking that I should give it another go. So my next few posts may have some unusual recipes in them...or not. That's the beauty of the game.
Anyway after picking two random numbers (the time on the digital clock) I landed on Potato, Apple and Rocket (Arugula for our US friends) Soup from my 'Whats Cooking Potatoes' recipe book.
Hubbie took one look at the recipe and opted out, so I decided it would be a lunchtime venture for one.
I diced my one potato and quartered half an onion (I cut the recipe for a serving of one thanks to my unadventurous family) then sauteed them gently in a frypan for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Thenn I added a splash of lemon juice, some chicken stock (add plenty as mine evaporated quite quicky), a diced apple and a pinch of ground allspice.
Once I brought it to the boil I reduced the heat and only simmered for 10 minutes. The recipe says 15 but that was with more quantities of ingredients. I then added the rocket and cooked a further 5 minutes until the potato was cooked through.
Testing the potato was interesting as I kept scooping out pieces of apple. They tended to look the same.
Then I transferred half the soup to my mini-blender and processed for a minute, returning to the pan and stirring in the remaining soup.
Anyone trying this can season to taste but I felt there was enough taste in it. While a bit tangy it was definitely warming to the tummy and I even managed to get my five year old to taste it. When I asked if he liked it he replied "No, not really!"
Oh well, maybe the next pick will be more family friendly.
In preparation of the laundry chute
We've been in the house for over three months now and I am relieved to say that the laundry chute isfinally in.
After numerous trips down to the laundry with a heavily laden basket of dirty clothes, the chute is a very welcome addition to the house. One problem the builder noted was that there was a pipe and a joist in the way, so the hole would not be that big.
"Unfortunately, you can't put sheets down there." he said.
Our builder...the thinker
As a mother of two very active little boys, one with a penchant to climb anything that doesn't move, and even some things that do, that was really no issue. Although I was warned that, despite the size of the small hole, it doesn't mean a climb wouldn't be attempted.
The finished laundry chute
My bookshelf groaning with cookbooks
I am just finishing the book Julie & Julia written by Julie Powell, that has recenlty been made into a movie starring Meryl Streep out at the cinema.
I gotta say, I so get Julie Powell. I get that she thought up the project. I get that she took a year to finish it. I get her love/hate relationship with cooking.
I could be totally wrong if I ever meet the woman, but the book was an enjoyable culinary experience where I was often laughing in shared sympathy or yelling out "Yes, I SO get that."
While I never had a project per say, I did have my own cooking game which was much easier to do when I was single and even married. Once kids came along, however, it was very hard to continue my cooking game due to its nature.
Let me explain.
In my bookcase I have one whole shelf dedicated to cook books. When looking for a dish to cook, it was often difficult to decide on a cookbook let alone a recipe. So I started my game.
It involved two numbers. The first number was the recipe book and the second was the page number.
If the number didn't coincide with a singular recipe I just kept picking numbers until it did. The numbers could be the next one I heard on TV, or asking my hubbie to pick them out of the air.
It made the game very random and exciting because whatever recipe the numbers landed on I had to cook, regardless.
Some recipes had me buying ingredients I wouldn't have looked twice at, or going to small chinese supermarkets to get certain items.
I made ponzu sauce, manhattan oysters, clafouti, main meals, entrees, desserts and nibbles. I had same amazing successes where I wrote the recipe down so that I wouldn't lose it on the shelf, as well as some amazing disasters that made me wonder how my husband agreed to always be my guinea pig.
When the kids came along, however, I abandoned my game as I wasn't going to be making multiple dishes for dinner, as I wouldn't expect children to be eating some of the dishes from the game.
Our meals are so much more pedestrian these days, but every now and then I breakout and find myself looking for two numbers.
citrus fruit is a good source of Vitamin C to stop scurvy
Did you know that vitamins were first called 'accessory food factors' and were considered to be essential to health. That's once they were discovered.
Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins was an English biochemist who did a lot of studies in carbohydrate metabolism and muscular activity and it was he who concluded that vitamins and essential amino acids were an important part of a healthy diet
[ Click here to read more ]
The storm building up coming up from Grafton
I heard a frog this morning, which in itself is not big news. However, I was told somewhere that when you hear frogs, it usually means rain.
Sure enough, later in the day Mark happened to look out the window in the early afternoon to see a huge build up of clouds from the south. Like all good internet savvy wives I straight away jumped on the BOM (Bureau of Meteorology website for the uninitiated) to check out the radar
[ Click here to read more ]
Spinach Meatballs with Spaghetti
I love simple recipes but I certainly don't mind them with a twist either.
I like the idea of spinach in meatballs because it gets the kids eating greens without them worrying too much about it.
According to my Table magazine this recipe is only $2.75 per serve as well
[ Click here to read more ]
Yummy chicken noodle soup
When you're feeling sick, need a cosy meal or just have a few leftovers to use up then this following recipe may be just what the doctor ordered.
Ingredients
[ Click here to read more ]
Our pool in waiting
I've recently been working for the paper in Casino and one day one of my co-workers took his thermometer outside and measured the temperature. 43 degrees in the shade!!
And it wasn't much cooler in Woodburn. Hence Mark's single minded determination to get a pool in the backyard as soon as possible. Council are going through our application and the pool is waiting patiently in many different boxes
[ Click here to read more ]
The matching set of burnt pizza toast at the Burnt Food Museum
OK, hands up! Who has ever had a kitchen disaster where they've forgotten that pie in the oven...or screamed that ultimate anthem of disaster while on the phone 'OH MY GOODNESS, THE CHIPS!!"?
Who has ever had to peel some black conglomeration from the bottom of their pans
[ Click here to read more ]
My version of Mrs Maclurcan's chicken and ham pie..I did mine with turkey.
The festivities are over and the fridge is still full. Mainly of ham, chicken and turkey. Time to use them up in an economical and tasty way.
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
|
Comments (4)
Add Comments
Read More
Comment by Samantha Elley
on Jah Bar - Insanely Brilliant Spanish Tapas - Manly
Food Journo
The Sandwich Shak
Vintage Foodie
Little House among the Canefields