Pumpkin & Bacon Lasagne

Here's another nostalgic recipe from the other side of the family. It's loosely based on one of my husband's family favourites. His mum had created the recipe, but it was just something she kept in her head, not a written thing. I got the gist of it, added a few of my own bits and bobs, and have written up the recipe for sharing.
At first I was highly skeptical about how the pumpkin and tomato would mesh, but this wonderful marriage of flavours has to be tasted to be believed-it's honestly even better than a meat lasagne-and I have a wonderful recipe for that too! The bacon pieces scattered through the golden cheesy white sauce that tops this great family meal really makes it sing.  You could easily leave out the bacon for a vegetarian meal if you so desired.

PUMPKIN & BACON LASAGNE

800g-1kg pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cubed
1/2 cup sour cream or cream
3x chicken stock cubes
1/2 cup hot water
700g jar tomato passata
400g can diced tomato
1 tsp garlic, crushed
1 tsp mixed herbs
1-2 boxes dried lasagne sheets
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp plain flour
1 cup cheese, grated
2 cups milk
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
80g diced bacon


Place diced pumpkin in a saucepan with water covering the top. Cook until soft. Strain the water and place the pumpkin in a blender with the sour cream, chicken stock and water. Puree until smooth.
In a saucepan heat up the passata, diced tomatoes, garlic and herbs until warm.
Heat the oven to 180C.
Place a layer of the pasta sheets on the bottom on the 9x13 inch lasagne dish. Top with a layer of the tomato mixture. Place another layer of the pasta sheets over the tomato mixture. Spread a layer of the pumpkin puree over these pasta sheets. Repeat, alternating the tomato mixture with the pumpkin puree between the layers of pasta until exhausted (the ingredients, not you!)
The last layer should end with pasta sheets.
To make the white sauce which covers these pasta sheets, place the butter and flour in a saucepan on low heat. When the butter melts, quickly whisk the butter into the flour while pouring in a little of the milk at a time, to make a smooth paste. Add the remaining milk and heat through. Add the grated cheese and stir through, and continue stirring until it has melted, and the white sauce is thick.
Pour this white sauce over the final pasta layer. Sprinkle with Parmesan and cooked bacon pieces.
Cook in preheated oven for approximatey one hour, or until the top layer forms a golden cheesy crust.
Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 8

 

Ultimate Potato Soup

Recently I touched on a topic I am sure we have all experienced at some stage in life before-food ruts. You buy the same ingredients repeatedly and use the same recipes. You cycle through and through until you no longer enjoy eating and cooking what you're serving. Or worse still, you have no idea what you're having for dinner, and end up spending a fortune on take away or some last minute ingredients that are quick and easy solutions. So how do you get out of food ruts? Here are a few ideas on how to move away from living the same food day in day out. Any step is a step forward!

1. Buy something you've never tried-a vegetable you've never tasted, that quinoa that everyone has been raving about, or that weird gooey stuff you have been curious about in the foreign food isle at your supermarket. Ensure it gets used within your grocery period. It might just become a new favourite.

2. Menu plan, making sure that you schedule to try one new recipe. Menu planning not only ensures you're only buying what you need for the week/fortnight, but you have everything ready to go without any last minute grocery store dashes (and lets face it, you always end up buying more than you intended!) Menu planning has been the best way in cutting down costs for me personally. Our shopping bills have been heavily reduced. There is great peace of mind in knowing what you're cooking at the beginning of the day.

3. Use pinterest for inspiration-sometimes all it takes is a little tweaking of the same ingredients to make it a whole new meal. Do you always buy chicken breast? There are a million and one ideas on how to change up chicken breast on that damned addictive site.

4. Challenge yourself to use what is in the pantry before stepping out to grocery shop. Had a can of  cream of chicken soup in the pantry for a few months? Got chicken and pasta and broccoli? Type these ingredients into a recipe finder such as Recipe Matcher to generate dozens of new recipes using those ingredients.

5. Buy a food magazine every so often. Woolworths and Coles often has publications they give out for free. Have them in a central area like the coffee table and you will probably have other family members looking at them and making requests. These mags are also great reminders that you are in a food rut and should or can do something about it.

Good luck getting out of the rut and finding new favourites to cycle through! Here's one to kick start you off. It's the best potato soup I have ever tasted. It's the ultimate comfort meal- hot and hearty, thick, cheesey, bacony, potatoey goodness just packed with flavour. You will have people groaning with delight as they spoon this down-it's a real keeper! I have served this at the end of a party once, serving it in mugs as everyone huddled around the fire outside. My guests just couldn't get enough! I have also served it as a dip in a cob loaf, which worked well, as it gets quite thick as it cools. It's one of my most requested recipes. I know you will cherish it too.
Got any other tips? I'd love to hear them! 

THE ULTIMATE POTATO SOUP

500g diced bacon
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cups potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, finely grated
2 cups chicken stock
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 tbsp plain flour
3 cups milk
1 cup grated cheese
1/4 cup green onions, finely chopped (optional)

Fry the diced bacon until golden and crispy. Drain any bacon at that may be in the saucepan. Add the onion, potato and carrot, along with the stock, parsley, salt and pepper. Place a lid on the saucepan and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the potato is quite tender (this time will depend on the size of your potato chunks.) Meanwhile, place the flour in a bowl, and adding a little of the milk at a time, whisk until a smooth paste forms. Add the remainder of the milk, and mix until well incorporated. Add this milk mixture to the pot of stock and potato. Let it reach the boil, then stir continuously for a further two minutes, until it thickens. Add the cheese and stir through. Serve sprinkled with chopped green onion if desired.

Serves 6-8

Roasted Sweet Potato with Honey and Cinnamon Glaze

How does one get out of a dinner rut? You know, how you end up always cycling through the same meals and the same sort of ingredients, and it just gets a little monotonous?
Sometimes you just have to mix it up a little at the dinner table. I always think it's a good idea to buy one new thing a fortnight and force yourself to cook with it. It's a good way to spice up meals a bit and adds to your cooking repertoire, making it more diverse and less boring.
It's a little challenging with small kids, because often you have go-to meals because you know meal time will be easier to bear. Yep, that's right! My kids would rather eat dry cat food than some of the things I serve. It's humbling. I try to reassure myself that their taste-buds haven't sufficiently developed yet, while I force feed them.
I was reading an article written by a dietician the other day about the "shared responsibility eating" theory. Basically you place the dinner on the table buffet style, and your children get to serve themselves, deciding what they want to eat and how much they will eat. There is no obligation to finish or taste anything. Well I think that's crazy. My kids would starve themselves. Or eat crackers for the rest of their childhoods. (trust me, I have been there in my own childhood, resulting in one never-hungry and malnourished girl. That's right-I never felt hungry enough to eat.)
My kids get served a portion of what we are eating and have to finish it. They at least have to have a taste of the things they're not used to, for example, if I add a new veggie or make something they've never tried before, they will have to at least experience it once.
We usually have our sweet potato boiled and mashed, but for Christmas lunch I decided to roast the sweet potato in wedges, drizzled in a honey cinnamon glaze. This was served alongside Gordon Ramsey's Beef Wellington (Oh my. This is a must-make!) The roasted glazed sweet potato  was so divine that I could probably have eaten the lot of it in one sitting. I have since brought it to the dinner table as a side, and it's always been a much-savored hit.

ROASTED SWEET POTATO WITH HONEY & CINNAMON GLAZE (Adapted from Food Network)

4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into thick fingers
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven at 190C.
Lay all the sweet potato fingers flat on a lined baking tray.
Combine the oil, honey and cinnamon in a small bowl until well incorporated. Drizzle this mixture over the top of the sweet potato. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes or until tender. If you prefer some more colour, you can finish off the roasting with a few minutes under the grill on a high setting.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper if desired before serving.

Best Ever Beef Marinade

There are ten of us kids in the family. Well, not kids anymore, but we were kids when I was of the opinion that meat was disgusting. Twiggy little me thought it was like to hunting and killing the beast itself to get the knife through those rubbery, sinewy steaks. I felt like I was sawing away at it for hours on end just to get a bite. Okay, so there were a stack of us, and my parents couldn't give us prime steak every night. I didn't even know there was such a thing as tender, succulent meat until I had my first blissful meat experience on my dinner break when catering for Peter Rowland. My goodness! Safe to say I almost fell off my chair.
I had a brief and idiotic spell there for a while at university when I almost went vegetarian. Don't tell my husband. He will be scandalized. Honey, if youre reading this, forgive me! I momentarily lost my head trying to please everyone.
But the memory of that juicy steak woke me out of my reverie, and I decided not to follow that path after all.  It would only have been to please someone I was trying to impress, and wasn't worth impressing after all. I could have married into malnutrition and meatlessness for life. (Don't worry, I know all you vegans and vegetarians aren't horribly malnourished. What are you doing reading about steak? Get out of here!)
MEAT. It called me! I left that veggie man and took myself to the closest kitchen.
But...I had no idea how to handle the stuff, or get that juicy, tender quality I had once tasted in the back kitchen at Ripponlea Estate. How did they get that flavour?
I still don't know exactly how they got that steak so good. I figure it's probably a lot to do with a really great cut of meat, tenderizing and a the perfect chef.
But since finding out I'm super low in iron, I decided to get myself some awesome steak and get marinating. I found this wonderful recipe and got all excited over it. My husband is the king of meat, sauces and marinades, and I finally made something on his level in the savory department-I was pretty proud of myself and couldn't wait to share the recipe. It's now my go-to recipe when cooking up kebabs or beef steak. So. Delicious.

BEST EVER BEEF MARINADE (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp french mustard (or Dijon if preferred)
1/2 tsp crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk until combined. Add the raw steaks and marinate for 24 to 48 hours (I only had time to let it sit for 4 hours and it was still awesome). Remove from the marinade and cook until desired doneness. Serve.


NOTES: This recipe serves 4. I also used some of the left over marinate to concoct a gravy, adding a little corn flour to thicken and some gravy powder. Combine and cook until thick, and use over your veggies. Yum!

French Vinegar Chicken-Poulet saute au Vinaigre

I have never been silent about my love of the french. Clothing, style, decor, food, and of course, the people. Every time I eat french food it strikes me at the simplicity of the ingredients and the surprisingly exquisite taste. They have the art of blending complimentary flavours down pat, with so little fuss. Except for macarons-now there's a bit of fuss for you!
I used to live with a darling French girl. The chicken she brought home from her sister's house is forever imprinted in my mind. It looked like butter chicken, with thick, creamy, tomatoey sauce running down it, but it tasted so very different from the Indian curry I was so familiar with. To my surprise it was tangy and sweet all at once, explosive on the taste buds, smooth and creamy, and the chicken moist-delicious! My mouth literally waters just thinking about it.
So I had to try my hand at it, and it was simple, and the end result fabulous. I wondered how my children (4, 2 and 1 years old) would go with the tangy flavour and a new dish, and even the baby went crazy for it. We served it with cous cous, but I hear it's great over mashed potato, and I imagine it would also go well with rice and a side of beans. Don't be put off by the unappetising name! I imagine it sounds better in French- Poulet saute au Vinaigre.

FRENCH VINEGAR CHICKEN(Poulet saute au Vinaigre)

2 large chicken breasts, cut into 8 pieces (or 5-6 chicken thighs)
1 tsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup red onion, chopped finely
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup white wine (I used Rose Moscato)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (or red-wine vinegar)
1 cup boiling water
2 chicken stock cubes
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp corn flour
2 heaped tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped

 Melt the butter in a fry pan. Add the chicken and fry for 5 minutes on one side, then turn over and cook the other side until the colour of both sides match. Season the chicken, then remove the chicken from heat and set aside.
Add the onion and garlic to the fry pan and fry on high heat for one minute. Deglaze with the wine, scraping any sticking residue from the bottom of the pan. Add the vinegar. In a small bowl, combine the boiling water and the stock cubes, and stir until well combined. Add this to the saucepan, along with the honey and tomato paste.
Whisk until combined, then return the chicken back to the pan. Place heat on low-medium. Cook with the lid on for 20 minutes. Take 4 tbsp of the sauce from the pan and place in a small bowl with the corn flour. Combine until it forms a smooth paste. Add to the pan and stir through thoroughly. Keep the pan on the heat until the sauce reaches desired thickness.
Stir through the sour cream.
Serve garnished with fresh parsley, over mashed potato, cous cous or rice.

Serves 4

 

Herbed Chicken & Cream Cheese Pastry Parcels

In one of my last posts I was talking about this adorable guy I have been with for 7 years and am still dating.
He's my husband. Yep! Still dating. I'm going to shut up now because I hear that talking openly about your relationship (at least on social media) is an unlikable trait. Strange, I always like hearing about everyone else's relationships! Anyway, I wanted to share our date night dinner with you because this meal hits the list of favourites in this house. Luke brought home a gift for me one day, the most beautifully bound Italian cookbook called Limoncello and Linenwater. It's filled with nostalgia--old black and white photos, quotes from old Italian mamas and old fashioned good housekeeping advice. It's loaded with delightful Italian recipes that make the reader salivate.
The first recipe we both picked out of the book to create was for these delicious herbed chicken and cream cheese pastry parcels.

Encased in a golden envelope of pastry lies a tender chicken breast, marinating as it cooks in cream cheese, fresh rosemary, sage and thyme.

 The smell wafting out of the oven is sensational and the taste utterly enveloping of the senses. Due to its style of cooking in this herby, cheesy sauce, the chicken breast remains moist and tender, and the texture contrast is lovely.
Apologies for the flash photography-that's the trouble with cooking at the end of the day!

 Herbed Chicken & Cream Cheese Pastry Parcels (Adapted from Limoncello and Linenwater by Tessa Kiros pg. 173)

2 x small chicken breast fillets
3 heaped tbsp cream cheese
4 large tyme sprigs
4 large sage leaves
1 small rosemary branch
salt to taste
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 200C (400F).
Remove the pastry from the freezer to thaw.
Meanwhile, pan fry the chicken on medium heat for a few minutes on each side until the exterior is nicely golden.  Strip the leaves off the herbs and chop finely (you should end up with 2 tbsp of herbs in total).
In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese with the herbs, and season with salt.
Cut the pastry down the middle so that there are two even rectangles. Lather both parts of the pastry with half of the cream cheese mixtire. Lay each peice of chicken on each peice of pastry. Use the remaining cream cheese mixture to spread over each chicken breast. Fold the pastry up over the sides of each breast, making sure to overlap some of the pastry so that it holds together over the majority of the breast. (It's ok to have a small gap at the top where the pastry doesnt cover the meat.) Brush a little of the beaten egg over the pastry and discard the remainder.
Cook the parcels for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed up and is glossy and golden. Remove from oven and rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Serves 2

NOTES: The cream cheese can be substituted for sour cream or mascapone.

Tandoori Prawn and Pawpaw Pizza

If you had a pawpaw, what would you do with it? I had no idea how to use a pawpaw, because I have never tasted it. It's not available all year round and is a tropical fruit, so some may find it hard to get their hands on-which sort of makes it the holy grail of fruits because it tends to be rare in parts of the world. I live in a sub tropical climate, so I see those pawpaw trees all over the place. And I still didn't know what it tasted like!
What does a pawpaw taste like? It doesn't have a strong flavour, and while some say it reminds them of mango and pineapple, it does not hold the same sweet and aromatic qualities. It isn't really comparable to any taste I have experienced before, and while some say its texture is like that of a ripe banana, I also find this quite unique. It almost has a buttery quality to it. In a nutshell, it's indescribable, and must be tasted! I personally think it's a little like cantaloupe.
I initially was thinking baking it into something sweet, but on cutting open that golden baby, my husband and I decided it should be paired with curry. So the Tandoori Prawn and Pawpaw Pizza came into existence. Its a great pizza recipe for the base, requiring no proofing and no kneading. That makes this recipe a quick and easy dinner or lunch choice, and perfect for those days you just need to quickly whip up a meal. I used my chef's toolbox saute pan to make this pizza in the oven without the lid on. You can use any round pan or pizza tray for this, but I used the saute pan because I liked the size of it, and I could mix up the pizza base in there also, and just press it straight into a disc before topping.
So-what did the tandoori prawn  and pawpaw pizza taste like?
Imagine an open front cafe so close to the beach that you can dip your toes in the sand. There's a warm fresh breeze tangling your hair and swaying the palm trees, and you can hear the waves pummeling the sand close by, on the shores of some exotic holiday destination. Biting into a slice of this pizza is like being carried away there. If you close your eyes you immediately forget you can't literally feel that sand and breeze because the flavours that hit you are so deliciously distracting-that exotic indian tandoori flavour combined with the tang of greek yogurt, the subtle yet very present tropical vibe of the paw paw and the seafood thrill of the crunchy prawns at the end. Who needs a holiday when you have a slice of this pizza in your hands?

NOTES: This pizza is great for the family table and would be very appealing to teenagers and adults alike, and if you wish to serve this to children (while it is not very spicy due to the addition of the greek yogurt) you may wish to adjust the quantity of tandoori paste to 1 tsp for their little pallets!(my 2 and 4 year olds ate this pizza with 1 heaped tbsp tandoori paste in the sauce, and loved it! I added a little sour cream to the top of their pizza just in case it was too spicy for them.)

TANDOORI PRAWN & PAWPAW PIZZA

Base:
1 cup SR flour
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp dry yeast
pinch salt
1 tsp honey
1 cup luke-warm water

Sauce:
1 heaped tbsp tandoori paste (this is concentrated tandoori paste. For children, you may wish to reduce the tandoori to 1 tsp.)
1/2 cup greek yogurt

Topping:
1/4 yellow pawpaw, seeded, skinned and sliced thinly
1 1/2 cup raw prawns, tails removed (about 20 prawns)
3/4 cup grated cheese (I used Tasty cheese)

Preheat the oven to 190C. In a bowl, combine all the base ingredients and combine until a soft dough forms. Dump this mixture onto a greased or non stick round pizza tray and using your fingers, push around the tray until it forms a disc. (You may like to dust your hands with a little flour if it's sticking to your hands)
In a small bowl, combine the tandoori paste with the yogurt, and spread it over the pizza base.
Arranged the sliced pawpaw on the tandoori paste, along with the raw prawns. Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and cook for 30-35 minutes, or until the base is golden brown on the underside, and the prawns have turned pink and curled into themselves.
Set aside for 5 minutes before slicing to serve.

Oven Baked Fried-Style Chicken

I've never really been into eating fast food like McDonalds and KFC. But I have on occasion reveled in the idea of easting a KFC twister wrap, and have indulged myself in buying one. The salad in it makes it okay, right? That's what I try to convince myself.
I'm sure it's not as unhealthy as some of the other options, but I'm also sure that chicken can't be great for you. I have no idea how they cook it however and maybe it is baked? (I highly doubt that given the name of the store, but lets give them the benefit of the doubt for a second.)
Anyway I found this great recipe for oven baked fried-style chicken, and just had to try it. I'm in love!
They are delicious portions of chicken breast covered in a layer of Dijon mustard mayonnaise, dipped in golden, crispy crumbed deliciousness on a par with KFC chicken, and healthier for certain! So if you want a recipe for KFC style chicken, this is it! I've altered it from the original recipe as I didn't have all the ingredients such as crushed bagels and melba toast--my version is very easy to make and quite irresistible. Can't wait to try it Twister-style in a wrap with some lettuce, tomato and peppered mayo!

OVEN BAKED FRIED-STYLE CHICKEN (adapted from Food Network)

1 1/3 cup crushed wheatbix
150g Shapes savory biscuits (I used pizza flavour, Chicken Drumstick biscuits worked great last time too)
1 tbsp. oil
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp dijon mustard
800g chicken breast cut into portions

Preheat the oven to 200C. Line and grease an oven tray and set aside. Place crushed wheatbix and savory biscuits in a food processor and blend until finely crushed and ground. Place this mixture in a  large plastic bag along with the oil, salt, pepper, and paprika. Mix until thoroughly combined.
In a shallow dish, place the mayonnaise and the mustard together. Stir to combine. Dip the cut strips of chicken breast into the mayonnaise mixture and thoroughly coat. Add these chicken pieces to the bag of cereal. Shake the bag until all the pieces are well covered in the dry mixture.
Lay the chicken pieces out on the greased and lined tray. Spray each piece evenly with oil and place the tray in the preheated oven. Bake until the chicken is cooked through and moist and tender, and the outer layer is crisp and golden (about 30-40 minutes depending on the size of the pieces of chicken.) This time will depend upon the size of your chicken portions, so keep a good eye on them after the 30 minute mark.

Grilled Smashed Potatoes

I've been making these beauties for a while. They're a nice spin on the more plain "potatoes in their jackets", as my mum used to call them, and take almost as little time. Best of all, you can add whatever delicious toppings you want and get really creative. Chicken parmigiana smashed potatoes? Go for it!

My husband and I are avid potato lovers, so we thoroughly enjoy having these as a side dolloped with sour cream, alongside the fresh greens and meat. It's also a kid friendly and kid approved dinner side, so that is always popular when you have fussy little undeveloped taste buds in the house.  

They bring back childhood memories of camping with the family, wrapping potatoes in aluminium foil and burying them under the coals of the campfire, to later find them cooked--and then we proceeded to lather them in melting butter.

Here I have spun over to Kate's Kitchen for inspiration for the Secret Recipe Club Reveal this month and found Grilled Smashed Potatoes. I've added bacon  and tomato pasta style sauce to the recipe, and I've just sizzled them under the hot grill because unlike Kate, I don't have a grill basket (I'm not even sure what that is). They are delicious! Don't stand for plain-jane jacket potatoes any longer!

GRILLED SMASHED POTATOES (Adapted from Kate's Kitchen)

Washed and brushed potatoes, skins left on
Diced bacon
Tomato Sauce (pasta style)
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Grated tasty cheese
Sour cream

Boil the potatoes until tender.
While they are cooking, heat up a little oil in a fry pan and cook the bacon until browned.
Remove the cooked potatoes from water and set on some aluminium foil on the grill tray. Set the grill to high to heat. Meanwhile, using a potato masher, gently crush eat potato downwards. (Don't mash it right up, you still want it to basically be in one, crushed piece.) Spread about 1 tablespoon of tomato sauce on each potato. Sprinkle the potatoes with herbs and lastly the grated cheese.
Grill until golden and bubbling, and serve immediately topped with a dollop of sour cream.

Crumbed Parmesan Zucchini Fries

I don't follow fads. I pride myself on not following them. For example, when adding bacon to every dessert became popular in the cooking blogosphere, I did not go there.
When everyone had their cake-pop faze, I refused to go there too. Regardless of how pretty some people made them. I think people can get totally carried away on the waves of what's popular without thinking.
But I have been meaning for a long time to make zucchini fries. That's one craze I cant resist, and when I saw them featured on Chelsy's blog, Magnia, I knew I was about to taste those lovely, crumbed vegetable sticks. I know that doesn't particularly sound appetizing, but they make great vegetarian appetizers, or a delicious, meatless side to your Lenten dinner plate.
And we're sneaking veggies in here.
In a very delicious way.
I was delighted to discover through my designated Secret Recipe Club reveal blog, that magnia means eat in Italian. I'm a total sucker for Italian food, and Chelsy's blog is packed with yummy recipes that show off that gorgeous culture.
Seriously, if I were ever to travel the world, I'd go directly to Italy and do a culinary tour and put on at least 20kg just from taste testing. It would be heaven.
There has been a request or two in the past few months for some Italian foods to be featured here--so, you have your wish in these crunchy on the outside, soft in the inside Crumbed Parmesan Zucchini Fries. Actually, they're not even fries, because they're baked, so I suppose that title is a little misleading.
Chelsy's recipe had pecan meal instead of bread crumbs, but I found myself nut-less, and hence I omitted the nut for bread.
I also made my own Italian Seasoning, because I'm not Italian enough to have it kept in my pantry. Shame on me! Luckily the home made Italian Seasoning has been a hit since I made it, and will certainly become a staple in this house. Home made is always better--but feel free to simplify this recipe by buying your own Italian Seasoning all bottled up from the store if you're pressed for time.

CRUMBED PARMESAN ZUCCHINI FRIES (Adapted from Magnia)

1 large zucchini
1 egg
1 egg white
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp. Italian Seasoning
salt to taste

Preheat the oven at 220C. Line a tray with non stick baking paper and set aside.
Cut the zucchini down the centre lengthways, then halve both pieces again and again until you have long, thin strips of zucchini. (the thinner the tastier!)
Combine the egg and egg white in a small bowl, whisking until well combined.
In a shallow dish or plate, combine the Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, seasoning and salt to taste.
Dip each zucchini strip into the egg mixture and shake off the excess. then coat it in the dry crumb mixture and place it on the prepared tray. Repeat until all the zucchini strips are coated. Then place the tray in the oven for 10 minutes before flipping the zucchini fries and cooking for a further 10 minutes. Serve immediately with a dipping sauce or salsa.


 HOME MADE ITALIAN SEASONING (Adapted from Food.com)

3 tablespoons dried basil
3 tablespoons dried oregano
3 tablespoons dried parsley
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
a pinch of black pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a mortar and crush with a pestle until well ground. 

Place in an airtight jar for up until 6 months.

Cous Cous Salad

There's something fantastic about cous cous. To me, living in Australia, it seems like a foreign food, and I do get a bit of a thrill out of eating it when I do. I love cous cous salads with bbqed meats on one of those hot summer days we're heading into, so when I saw this recipe on Josie's Kitchen blog for the Secret Recipe Club Reveal, I just had to make it. I added some shredded turkey, and left out the mint (only because the caterpillars which have infested my garden have eaten it all!) but I think the mint sounds delightfully refreshing for a summer's afternoon dinner. It's a light salad yet hearty at the same time. My kids love it, my little one year old came back for seconds (which is amazing because she hates solids!) So thank you Josie! It's a wonderful recipe that makes me think of Moroccan dishes, warm weather and sitting out on the deck with a glass of wine on those sultry summer nights...

COUS COUS SALAD (Adapted from  Josie's Kitchen)

1 cup water
olive oil
1 cup dry cous cous
handful fresh parsley
1 cucumber
2 firm, large tomatoes
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup shredded turkey (pre cooked)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, boil water. Add one tablespoon olive oil to the water, plus the dry cous cous. Remove from heat and set aside with the saucepan lid on. When the water has been absorbed by the cous cous, remove from the saucpan into a salad bowl. Break up any lumps. If the lumps do not break down and it appears "gluggy", add a little more oil and mix through.
Finely chop the parsley.
Finely chop the cucumber and tomatoes. Mix the parsley, cucumber and tomatoes through the cous cous. Add the shredded turkey and mix through. Drizzle lemon juice over the salad. You may add salt and pepper to the salad if you desire.

Zesty Cannelloni

If you're in Australia and you love food, you have to make a trip to Melbourne. I know I am biased about that beautiful city, but it's been my romping ground for a while. Sadly I have moved away from it, only to take some pretty fond memories with me and a list of great foodie haunts. I've been away too long it seems, as new and exciting restaurants have popped up all over the place. I'm keen to try Chin Chin on Flinder's Lane, Manchester Press and Chez Dre. I cant say how good these spots are because I haven't been yet but the reviews on Urbanspoon sound pretty fantastic.
My hot spots for Melbourne visitors would be:

Lygon Street in Carlton, to tease and satisfy the Italian in you
Brunetti's for to-die-for cakes, great coffee, biscuits and desserts. My kind of place.
Flinder's Street Station Spanish Donuts stand--hot churros like you've never tasted in your life!
Spaghetti Tree, for some seriously fine dining.

You can tell I like my Italian, right? There are lots of brilliant places to dine in Melbourne, as it has a large Italian community. That's mighty fine for someone like me who's favourite cuisine happens to be Italian. Anyone who thinks Italian is just pasta and pizza is seriously missing out...there are so many Italian foods that don't even come close to being pasta or pizza!
But pasta is my "one weakness". There's nothing like a good home made pasta, made from scratch, with love. Left to rise, stretched and re stretched through a pasta press. Cut out into little circles, filled with some delicious mixture. That's how I like it.
If you like Italian foods, you will most definitely enjoy this recipe for cannelloni. Think of mozzarella cheese melted over herby pasata, and home made pasta that has been wrapped around a delightful, zesty, ricotta, cottage cheese, and spinach filling. Everyone who tastes this delicious vegetarian dish will be wanting seconds. So make two batches. You won't regret it.

Obviously if you have the time, home made pasta wins over store bought any day. You can even make the pasta without a pasta press, if you have some brawn in those arms and a good rolling pin. Try to roll the pasta as thinly as possible without it breaking, as the texture makes all the difference and the thinner the pasta, the less cooking time is involved.

ZESTY CANNELLONI (adapted from Heart of the House)

Basic Pasta:

2 1/2 cups plain four
1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup virgin olive oil

Filling:

1 large onion, chopped
1 tbsp. crushed garlic
1 tbsp. olive oil
250g cooked spinach, chopped and drained
500g cottage cheese
500g fresh ricotta
100g parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs
grated zest of 1 lime
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped (preferably flat leaved)
salt and pepper to taste
1 jar of pasata, or tomato based pasta sauce
1 cup cheese, grated (we suggest mozzarella)

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
To make the pasta, sift flour and salt into a large glass bowl. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients, and break each egg into the well. Add oil. Using your fingertips, gradually blend the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Continue to blend little by little until a thick dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes until smooth and elastic. Leave dough on surface, cover with the mixing bowl and leave for 30-40 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make the filling, place the onion and garlic in a fry pan and cook with the oil until softened. Add to a large bowl, along with the cooked spinach, cottage cheese, ricotta, half the Parmesan cheese, the eggs, zest, nutmeg and parsley. Mix thoroughly to combine and season with salt and pepper if desired.
Take a quarter of the pastry dough and run though the pasta press until very thin and stretched into a long portion. Cut as desired into squares (about 15 x 15 cm) and place 1/2 cup of the mixture in the centre of each. Roll up and place, seam down, into a 19x13 inch glass dish. (You could also use high-sided foil tray or something similar). Fill the ends with a little extra cheese mixture once in the dish.
Repeat with the remaining pasta dough and cheese mixture, lining all the pasta parcels up along side each other, until the tray is full and all the dough and mixture is used up. Top with pasata and remaining Parmesan and grated cheese.
Cook for 45 minutes covered in foil. Remove the covering and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 8 adults, with a side of veggies.

Bacon and Sage whole Stuffed Potatoes

Sitting down after a long Easter Sunday, I realized I had probably eaten a little too much. It brought back the memory of the days when food was my archfoe, and would have lived off dry crackers if my parents hadn't stepped in. In fact, I was so shocking with food at the time that my mother had to wake me up in the night to give me a steady dose of Sustagen ( nutritional supplement) to try and bring me back to my former self. I guess I was skeletal.
It's only since I got married that I've started to thoroughly enjoy food and eat properly. I have my darling husband to thank for that. He makes me want to actually eat, and now, here I am, food rocks my every day. So there's hope for those who don't fancy food as being a great and enjoyable part of being alive.
It made me think though, if I had been allowed to live off sweets, would I have? Probably not, I cant remember being addicted or interested in any food at all. But sweets is the way my mind thinks now, not so much the savories. My brother in law thought this blog could improve with some savories...so here it is, for you David. With extra cheese, just for you!

BACON AND SAGE WHOLE STUFFED POTATOES (adapted from Coles Autumn Magazine March 2012)


12 small potatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to sprinkle

2 rashers bacon, diced finely
1/2 cup cheese, grated
1/4 cup dried breadcrumbs
1 tsp ground sage
sour cream to serve

Preheat the oven to 200C. Wash the potatoes and remove any residue. We recommend using potatoes that are brushed and washed. Place one potato on the chopping board and place an item, such as a chopstick or container lid, on either side. This ensures you do not cut through to the base of the potato in the next step.
Slice the potato thinly down to the chopstick level, and repeat until the whole top of the potato is a series of slices. Repeat with the remaining potatoes. Place on a baking sheet with the sliced side up, then rub with oil.. Sprinkle the tops with a little salt to flavour. Bake for 1 hour or until tender .
Meanwhile, pan fry diced bacon for one or two minutes. In a bowl, combine breadcrumbs, cheese and sage.
Remove the potatoes from the oven. Randomly wedge pieces of bacon into the cuts of each potato and sprinkle with the breadcrumb mixture. Return to oven until cheese has melted. Serve immediately with sour cream dolloped on the top.

NOTES: These were yummy as they were, but I personally found the skin a little hard to chew through. You could peel the tops before slicing, if preferred. This may increase the enjoyability of the stuffed potatoes. Also ensure they are served hot!

Sharing the Coveted Recipe--Italian Salad

Someone get me a crane! For heaven's sake, I need it! I sound like a dying moose every time I have to do anything slightly strenuous...and that means everything from getting out of bed to lifting my son. Yes...I made the mistake of getting on the scales the other day and looking at how much weight I'd gained since becoming pregnant 6 months ago, and almost broke the scales.
Is it going to stop me from baking? Not in your life. The baby calculator tells me I can safely put on another 10kg and I'm guessing I will. But it does feel rather unattractive. Thankfully I'm not an emotional eater. I'm just an emotional baker. And I tell you what, those pregnancy hormones have a way of making an emotional wreck out of this ship sometimes.
Anyway, my hormones are making me feel giving, so I'm going to pass on a coveted recipe of my mother's. Shh. Don't tell her! Its for salad, just so you know, I do eat other things besides sweets, in case you were wondering.
It's a divine Italian salad sporting all their favourites, from tomatoes to olives and cheese quite typically and without all the greens. I'm not usually into eating salads as a main, but I tell you, you'll want to with this one! You wont be able to stop!

ITALIAN SALAD

800g firm, ripe tomatoes, sliced into bite sized chunks
1/4 tsp sugar
125g garlic sausage, rinds removed and thickly sliced
60g black olives, halved and pitted
125g mozerella cheese, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp. french mustard
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 medium red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley or basil

Put the chopped tomatoes in a large serving bowl and sprinkle with sugar. Cut each garlic sausage into small peices, ass to the bowl with the olives and cheese and stir gently to mix. In a seperate bowl whisk together the oil and lemon juice until thick, then whisk the mustard and salt and pepper into the dressing to taste. Pour this dressing over the tomato salad, add the onion and parsley and mix gently until the salad is thoroughly coated. Taste and adjust seasoning as desired, then cover and chill until serving time.

Serves 6

NOTES: If preparing the salad ahead of time, do not add the dressing, onion and herbs until just before serving.

Porky at 24 weeks