Faking It

Time to add another recipe. Picture to come because it looks better than mediocre!

This is where I wrap chicken breast with cheese (a swiss works well) and seeded mustard in bacon. Then cook it in a medium oven for about 30-40 minutes. Couldn't be easier - but it looks at least as good as the ones they serve in the restaurants. You can serve it with a salad or with roast vege. I put the vege on about a quarter of an hour in. I used sliced sweet potato, capsicum, carrots and onion cut into halves with a little golden syrup on top to caramelise.

Serve it to a special lady or friend then get down to playing singstar =). I can fake it there as well. Never fake it anywhere else though ;-)

Rissotto Cheat!

I've never really mastered the art of the risotto. Too much stirring - I'm lazy.

Today I came up with a pretty good substitute. Mixed some leftover pumpkin soup through some (pre-cooked) brown rice, added some bacon and steamed veg. Dinner done =). I wouldn't serve it up to others (looks ordinary) but it was easy =).

I found this little gem. A cute little Aussie short.



Because I've not been bringing the humour, or the gay =), so I'll let this film do it for me. Still damn I'm glad I've left home and highschool though.

Made me look for more, but hit duds. If you've got more comment, comment, comment =).

Povo Apple Pie

I felt like apple pie tonight. But couldn't be bothered making pastry or crumble, and well, I'd already defrosted an extra pita bread. So I gave the following a go.

Cut the bread open and buttered the inside. Sprinkled the bottom with sugar and mixed spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice). I added peeled sliced granny smith and topped with some more sugar and mixed spice. Baked in a medium oven for 15 minutes, the smells were just like apple pie should be.

And damned if it didn't taste like it too. I'll be doing that again, that's for sure =).

EDIT: My brother just suggested that this could be done using normal bread and a toasty-toast (sandwich press, jaffle maker, whatever you want to call it). Make sure you butter on the inside and the outside of the bread, and add sugar and herbs as per above.

More Brews and Food?

No wonder I'm getting a gut. =)

The lemonade's still fermenting. On tasting it wasn't too flash. It tastes kinda... beery. I just used a couple of beer kit yeasts - not recommended. Not good in a lemonade. The bitterness isn't as strong as when I first set it up, so there's hope though. I'm going to separate it from the yeast and sit it for a while, so hopefully the 'beeryness' disappears.

Now this is a great brew! Amazing. If I can one day brew a dark approaching this quality I'll be happy. And quite possibly perpetually drunk (say that three times after a couple of Leffes).

Had it at the Belgium Beer Cafe in the city. Not really my kind of drinking haunt generally. But it was a special occasion (sorta). Very good beer, served very well, and very expensively. Though honestly if you've got the money it's well worth it. The girls and guys behind the bar are nice, and really knowledgeable about beer. I learnt heaps. They also did me up a little sampler for a reasonable price so I could work out what (besides the dark) was good.

A soup with the strong flavours to go with the dark fell into my lap the other day. I was at the Adelaide central markets the other day, and one place had tomatoes and capsicum reeeeeeeally cheap. So of course I grabbed a heap, and did a little google to see what I could find.

Roast capsicum and tomato soup? Yes please. The amounts ended up being about a biscuit tray (crammed full) of veges to 1.5-2 litres of stock. I used only roast capsicum and tomatoes. But if I'd had some zucchini I would have used a little of that too.

Oil the biscuit tray (or roasting pan/s) and cover with roughly equal numbers of tomatoes and capsicums. Either put a couple of garlic cloves in too, or, if you're lazy like me and mostly use crushed garlic in a jar you can put some of it in the oil before brushing the veges with it.

I also grabbed some turkish bread while I was at the market. Soft and fluffy and about a foot by a metre. I made it into a crispy garlic bread to serve with the soup by smearing on the butter and crushed garlic (not pictured, that's the knockoff I tried when the turkish bread was gone *cry* - nowhere near as good). Good strong tastes and went great with a dark.

Thumpity!

Yay! I'm all set-up. Computer's together, monitor's here, and the speakers are all plugged in. I tell ya what, you haven't lived until you've watched a dvd from bed with the bass turned up (and the sub-woofer under the bed). Yeah!

So I'm geeking it up big time. Even joined a rpg site (not the computer games, an online version of table-top). For the non-geeky amoung you (who read blogs - yeah, you keep telling youself you're not a geek *rolls eyes*) RPG stands for role playing game.

I cooked my kangaroo roasts. They were damned delicious, though the first was a little chewy. The secret to good roo is either cook it very fast very hot, or cool and slow. The second was better. I cooked it at 150 degrees until still red in the middle (it's kangaroo, and to do it well done is a crime.

Made some great roo sandwiches with what was left. One with mixed greens, mayo (the real stuff heathens - you know with eggs, etc, not miscellaneous...stuff). If you can't make it yourself (like me) at least buy the goods, seeded mustard, grape tomatoes (they're cheap at the moment, and taste soooo good), and the roo cut finely. The other sandwich was good too. Vege roasted under the grill (I used capsicum, spanish onion, and added some broccoli for the last few minutes). Sweet potato or pumpkin would have been good too if I'd had any.

Mmmm, might just go and have another sandwich now. Yum!

What a hottie!

Wow! Today was amazing. I was working outside and it was not at all enjoyable. The bath I had when I got home was though. I nearly went to the beach too (woohoo, I am now 1 minutes walk from the beach rather than 2 hours drive), but I think I'll save that for tomorrow after work. You see Saturday is actually my Friday - so it's not yet the end of the week for me =( - that said the overtime is about the only thing keeping my pay packet looking reasonable so I shouldn't complain... too much... meh, I'm sort of in a wingey mood so I think I'll leave all that drivel in.

I just had a nice dinner, and thought I'd let you know what it was so you can make it yourselves. I roasted some onion with golden syrup, and added it to a green leafy salad (rocket's ideal because of the strong flavours). I also cooked up a lamb chop and added some parmesan cheese to the salad and stirred it through with a little basalmic vinegar and olive oil. Yum!

Enjoy your days off tomorrow, while I slave over some hot plants. I'll laugh at you all on Monday =p

2 Months?

Well, well, well, 2 months since my last post. I'd better have a good excuse. Well, I do. Life, love, and other things. I met a great girl (no more on that though, because it's private =)), changed jobs, hell, I've changed cities (packing up house, now there's something I don't want to do again in a hurry).

I'm now sharing a place near the beach in Northernish Adelaide, and I'd love to say how much I'm enjoying the beach, but I've only been down there once, and didn't even have the guts to dip my toes. The cooling breezes in the evening make a nice change from the horrid northerlies I'm used to.

I just had scromlete. That's scrambled eggs with other stuff added (in this case onion, capsicum, mushrooms, tomato which has seen better days, and oops, forgot the cheese). It was meant to be an omelet, but I added too much milk and / or had the temperature of the pan up too high *sigh* it's what you get when you're getting used to a new kitchen. Speaking of which I'd better go tidy up the bombsite before my new flatmate comes home.

I sort of like that about sharing a house. I've got to keep the kitchen and bathroom tidy because I'm sharing, stops me being a slob =). Well, gotta go practice my non-slob technique - see you rissole like =)

PS This is for you Weasel Woman.

Cooking Weekend!

This weekend has been kinda mopey. Got some kind of allergy and / or head cold so I've been keeping my germs to myself and just hanging out at home. I cleaned Saturday morning (weird for me, usually I keep that evil task until the last possible minute) and then got down and made muffins!

Roast capsicum, sundried tomatoes, and fetta muffins. They weren't bad, though I must admit I still prefer my choc-chip and banana muffins. Best muffin recipe I've ever found, though I really should start back making the healthy muffins again *sigh* - ye olde waist band's expanding again. Damn beer belly!

You can use any old muffin recipe for the roast capsicum version. Just add roast capsicum, chilli, fetta and sundried tomatoes - easy fixed =).

Inside Out Yiros

Mmmm, yeah! I love yiros, but in the back of beyond you can't get them (no the frozen ones from the supermarket do NOT count). Instead I make my own version with lamb chops. The salad is generally just lettuce and baby spinach leaves (I'd kill for tabouleh).

I make my own garlic mayo with good mayonnaise (the stuff made with eggs rather than chemicals) and some of that garlic in a jar (I told you I cheated when I cooked). I put that on top of the tossed salad, throw on the chops straight out of the pan and voila - simple, but believe me it's good. Even looks good if you're trying to impress ;-).

Karaoke Queens!

Damage Report:
hangover - check!
sore throat - check!
busted knee - check!

Now that I'm sufficiently recovered from Friday night...

It started at the Eldo hotel's happy hour. Cheap drinks and free food! It was a seafoody day, and I really enjoyed the food. They even had a thing I'm totally stealing which is a shot glass with a raw oyster in the bottom topped up with Guinness. The flavours go really well.

I'm careful about going on about seafood these days though. I was proclaiming my love of fish at work one day and the fellas all found it hilarious. Bah!

Sporties was all fired up and ready to go. Didn't even get a nibble on the raffles this week =(. After that it was Karaoke - and I was all over 'Faith' - god I love that song. Sue and Biker Chick and the horde (six kids - SIX!) were there.

Sue sang the song he was named for, and with style. Biker chick also got up and sang - "I wish I was a Punk-Rocker" - I love that song too. I don't care - I know it's not cool. I have no rock OR punk cred now. =(

I hope you appreciate the picture - getting to the front of the room to take this (with my phone) is how the knee got busted. It seems sliding on your knees across a slippery floor isn't as suave as my drunken self though =(. Or maybe it was suave - but just not a good idea. My knee is still hurties =(.

Call that a burger?

This is a burger!

I saw the burgers at the diner this morning (OK, afternoon) when I was having breakfast. God they looked good, and I wanted to give it a go. Weasel Woman came around for tea before the movie and we both had one. I might still be hungover, but this helped.

The burger 'bun' was one of those bacon and cheese rolls. I cooked up the bacon and the meat pattie. While that was cooking I roasted some capsicum, and chopped up the salad (I used the last of the rocket and lettuce mix, spanish onion, cheese, and some tomato. I also cut some pineapple, but ended up eating that instead of putting it on the burger =).

When the meat was done I put it and the cheese on the rolls and toasted them in my sandwich press. God I love that thing! Then I cooked the egg (on a lower heat than the meat - otherwise the eggs go nasty). I put the egg in the burger and served them with some corn chips. I was going to make sweet potato wedges to go with, but was too lazy =).

I put the salad plate out separately (so WW could choose the salad she wanted on the burger - none it turned out =p). I at least delude myself that hamburgers are healthy by putting green stuff on them - sheeh! I used tomato salsa instead of sauce. Man, I'm going to have to try that again. Next time I'll leave out the egg - it was a little eggy/cheesy for me. I tend to only have one or the other on my food - both is a little rich, even for me =).

Burn baby burn!

Just a tip. Leaving a pan with oil in it on the heat too long is a bad thing. A very bad, and flaming thing. Putting it under the tap because you can't find the tea-towel to put over it, is even worse. =S

That said tonight's steak came up a treat! Pepper steak and salad for tea tonight. Pepper steak is easy enough. I just rub the steak with cracked black pepper and a chilli/garlic/salt mix I get from the supermarket. Yes it's cheating, no I don't care =). I cook it till it's done (ish - I like my meat to be red still).

Voila! That just leaves the salad. I was feeling lazy today so it's just iceberg lettuce and some of the baby spinach / rocket mix I have in the fridge and a dressing I had pre-prepared. From memory / taste it had apple cider vinegar, a little basalmic, some seeded mustard, extra virgin (mmm, tasty =p) olive oil, and a little honey.

Not Drink Blogging

Oops. I never got around to blogging last night. That's the problem with drinking - good intentions go out the window. Or somewhere. Possibly down the drain.

I left quite early, about 10 or 11 and was only sleepy / happy drunk. Mmmm, sleep! God knows what I'm doing up so early on a Sunday. Gah! I may need to clean and do more washing. This is not good.

Gay Uncle's dinner party went off well. The food was great! I'm going to have to steal his recipe for garlic bread. It was so much better than mine. His salad, chicken and pastrami, and potatoes and bacon were all good too. Man I'm stealing his chicken recipe.

I was going to put up a recipe for a Lynchberg Lemonade and everything. Hell, I might as well. I make mine a little differently to this. I never used whatever they called 'sour' though. I'm not sure we can even get it in Australia, though I'm sure bitters would do as good a job.

I make mine with the juice of 1/2 a lime, 1 part each JD and Cointreau (or Triple Sec if you're feeling cheap), and lemonade. It's fantastical - though I might have to mess around with the recipe in future to see if I can get it just right.

Dips go very well with drinks. My favourite dip is equal parts sour cream and cream cheese drizzled with sweet chilli sauce. It's easy to make, looks great, and goes well with all kinds of chips, biscuits, and vegetable sticks (raw carrots, red pepper, brocolli, celery, etc). You can even pretend it's healthy when you serve it with veges.

I've been inspired. I will have to get myself organised and have a dinner party of my own I think. I even have a new recipe book to try out. Woohoo!

Comfort Food!

Blah! I hate being sick. I won't bore / disgust you with the details, but I have the flu. Thankfully not bird flu, I think you have contact with women birds to get that. *Sigh* It'd almost be worth it.

One of the questions the doc asked was 'have you been eating well?'
'Weeeeell...' I said
She raised her eyebrow 'Three meals a day?'
Me 'Oh. Yeah.' (*thinking* Lime and Cracked Pepper chips count as a meal. I mean lime's citrus)

I decided to take care of myself this afternoon and had some of my chicken and veg soup. This is a great in winter, especially when you're sick. I remember how excited I got when Weasel Woman got sick a couple of weeks ago and I could give her soup. My friend's sick. Yay!

I'm going to teach you how I make soup. Everyone's is a bit different. I'll give you the ingredients for my chicken soup, but also give alternative so that you can make it vegetarian too if you wish.

I make my own stock, but cheaters can use the liquid stock, or if they really have no class they can use powdered =p. For chicken stock I just boil the guts out of roast chook left overs for a few hours, then pick out the bones (leaving in the meat of course). Vege stock is trickier. I just keep all my vege scraps (peelings, onion ends and skin, etc) in a bag in the freezer and when I have enough I make up some stock. Make sure you don't use too much leafy stuff, it makes bitter stock. It's foul (learnt by experience =(). Stock will need to be cooked for at least a full day (or night).

To the stock (or stock and chicken) I add some yellow split peas, pumpkin (gives the soup a bit of texture) and carrots. I sauté some onion and add that too (if you like celery in soups - I don't - saute that too). I boil it up in the slow cooker for at least half a day with the lid off (on high), longer if it's on low. Check the flavour, if it's not strong enough keep boiling off the liquid until it tastes good.

Freeze in single or group servings and you have some good, solid meals to serve guests, family, or friends if they 'just show up.' Or you can be like me and get excited when your friends get sick =).

Pizza and Beer

Do any other substances go so well? Socks and shoes, saunas and sex (please for future reference people, if you have sex in the sauna, if you see someone have sex in the sauna, if you even hear about it, I don't want to know!), lesbians and cats (we're back to matching things again), balls and bats (*evil grin*), love and marriage (damn you John Howard *shakes fist*). Well, you get the idea.

My mate (lets call him 'inappropriate humour man' - or IHM for short) is home alone while his wife and kids are in Melbourne *cue violin music.* I find the poor bum in the freezer section of our local 'supermarket' (just so you know in a town this size it's more like a convenience store in size and selection). I kindly invited to my place for tea, and almost instantly regret it. Why, when he makes an inappropriate comment involving joining me in the shower, do people blame me? And no, I have no idea how he managed to make the conversation take that direction. It's his gift!

He bought beer and it was palies (Cooper's Pale Ale) so all was forgiven. Until next time. Because there will be a next time. You know that line? That line where you stop with jokes, comments, information about your sex life? He has no line! *muted scream*

Other than that tea was good. Delicious if I do say so myself, and because I don't truck with this modesty business I will say so. Hey, when you're as badly off as me you learn to make the most of your good points =). Tikka Masala and my ham and pineapple pizza - definitely good points. Though, as I've said before, it's all about the sauce =).

Tikka Masala Pizza
Tikka masala was one sliced breast cooked up in a jar of instant sauce (when it comes to Indian food I cheat! I just spread a pizza base (cheating again) with mango chutney, put the cooked masala chicken on top and put the whole thing in the oven. When it's done (about 15 minutes later) top with sour cream or plain (not vanilla) yoghurt and coriander.

Ham and Pineapple Pizza
Should be self explanatory. Use good ingredients! - mozzarella cheese and real (not processed) ham. The secret sauce! Well, you wink a little, then you...*clears throat,* ah oops, wrong sauce.

Pizza sauce is easy, it's tomato paste and a nearly equal amount of olive oil with some dried 'italian herbs' and a teaspoon or so of 'garlic in a jar' (the lazy cook's best friend). Spread this thickly on the base, add some cheese, lots of ham and pineapple, more 'Italian herbs,' and another layer of cheese. This will take 15-20 minutes to cook. The cheese should have just started to go brown.

I managed to time it so that both pizzas were done at the same time, ready for the second beer to be cracked. This order is better - cook, then drink. The other way... well the cooking, if it happens, and definitely the evening, can get messy, but that's for another story. In this story it was a good evening, good food, and IHM was great company, even though I sometimes had to threaten violence to keep him in line. =)

Sorry folks. We didn't even pretend to be healthy last night. I guess the salad will have to wait. Take care,

Taz


*yes, in a town of 400 people we have a sauna. It's at the gym. A great gym, recently upgraded and membership is $60 for 3 months. Just thought I'd make you all jealous =p. Oh, we also have a bowling alley and karaoke every Friday night, still jealous? I thought so *thumbs nose*

I have a dream

I want to be a crazy cat lady!

I'm already on my way. I have one cat. she's definitely crazy. A little bit psycho even. No? Well, it's a start. Though I've got a feeling I may brush my hair a little often I think talking about your pet in a blog makes up for it. I'd prefer to be a crazy dog lady, but I think Cruella DeVill cornered that market years ago. Give me 40 or 50 years and a tea-cozy to wear on my head and I'll be the best damn cat lady the worlds ever seen.

Though to be honest I could never come at the food. Tuna would be OK, those little flavoured ones. A small tin of tomato and onion (I love homebrand best) on brown rice makes a great lunch, even kinda healthy. Add rocket and other greens to make it better (love those salad bags of greens at the supermarket).

Or give the healthy stuff to the cat and just go for the pizza! I make kickarse pizza - just ask anyone. Seafood, Tikka Masala (yes that's right, you heard me =p), Vego, Barbecue Chicken, even my Ham and Pineapple. All kickarse. For you see boys and girls, the secret's in the sauce - and don't we all love a little sauce ;~). But that's a tale for next time. For now enjoy your healthy rice and tuna, and I'll get back to you with pizza and salad on the side (so you can pretend to yourself that eating pizza is healthy afterall =p).

So you promised food!?

Yes, yes I did. Just looking at my blog and realised it was missing something. That's right, food! When first conceptualising (if that wasn't a word before it damn well is now) this blog food was meant to be on the menu (badum-tish) . So far it isn't. Before the following post that is =).

My food for impressing friends and family right now is steak dianne. Sorry to all non-meatatarians, but this is my thing right now. I promise the next recipe will be for you!

I love food that looks and sounds impressive, but is butt easy (mmm, appetising) to make. An example... you know those 5 minute bread rolls you get at the supermarket? I brush them with olive oil and sprinkle them with dried herbs. Cook (for 5 minutes - sheesh, I would have thought you guys could work that one out =p), and serve with shared dipping bowls of olive oil and basalmic vinegar. Yum!

What about the steak dianne you say? The original recipe was taught to me by a bloke down the pub (not making that up). A couple of years later I modified it - by adding alcohol (red wine) of course. Mmmm, alcohol. Though sadly I think most of the alcohol boils off. But the thought's there, and the taste, and I even think it looks better, though that could just be because it looks more alcoholic.

Steak
First beat the steak with a blunt object, preferably one of those funky meat hammers, though I have substituted rolling pins, and other club-like objects at need. Rub garlic into one side (cheating is permissable - gotta love garlic in a jar), and cracked black peppercorns into the other. Sear on both sides, then cook until it's done the way your guests / you like it. Remove steak from pan and 'rest' on the plate (I'm not sure steak really needs to 'rest' - I mean it's me that's doing all the work here, right? But it sounds better than 'piss it off onto the plate so you can do the sauce.' At least I think so.

Dianne Sauce
Remove the pan from heat and add worcester sauce to the still hot pan and scrape off the burnt bits, do it again with about twice as much wine, then add about the same amount of cream. It should be a nice browny-pink colour. You'll need to experiment with this to get the right flavour - you might have noticed that I sort of make this up as I go along =).

Put sauce on the steak and serve with microwaved (oops sorry, steamed ;)) vegies or salad (I'll reveal the secret to my kickarse salad at some future date - ooh, the suspense). When they compliment on the meal resist the urge to tell them how easy it really was!