Friday 4th September '09

Morning Tea at Work
Nikki's Mini Mango Muffins
Try saying that ten times fast!

Yesterday at work, we were talking about food. Gee, really!? We got onto the subject of roast dinners and pork crackle. *Drool*

I stopped by at the shops after work yesterday and even though I had a steak in the fridge for dinner last night, I bought some pork to roast. I didn't have any fresh rosemary at home but I remembered that Marissa has heaps in her garden so I decided to have the steak as planned last night, and the roast pork for tonight. I asked Marissa to bring my some rosemary, which she did.

As soon as I got home, I had a snack.

Dorsogna's Cheese Kransky
I love these sausages. I just heat them in the microwave for about a minute and a half. I find it's better to slice them up first or else the cheese gets hot and causes the sausage to split and pop in the microwave.

Mum noticed that Simba had buried one of his rawhide bones in the soil of one of her potplants outside. She went to check the rest of the garden and she was shocked to find that Simba had somehow managed to get a hold of a whole family block of KitKat chocolate and buried it in a foam esky of potting mix!! She said only a small corner of the packet was visible, and she had to dig it out. Luckily he hadn't torn the packaging. He must be disappointed that his treat has been reclaimed!

Now, I came across a recipe for a dessert that I was really excited to try. I made a trip out to the shops to get the ingredients that I didn't already have. I'm still not feeling that great so I'm having a quiet night in tonight. The perfect time for me to try this recipe!


White Chocolate, Cranberry & Pistachio Hedgehog Slice

180mL sweetened condensed milk 60g chopped butter 180g Milky Bar white chocolate 150g Arnotts Scotch Finger biscuits 65g dried cranberries 45g roasted unsalted pistachios

First, I heated up the condensed milk and butter in a pan on low heat.

I turned the heat off, then broke up the Milky Bar chocolate and added that into the condensed milk mixture and stirred it until the chocolate melted.

In another bowl, I broked up the Scotch Finger biscuits into small pieces and mixed in the cranberries and pistachio nuts. I forgot that the recipe asks for unsalted pistachios, so I took the risk and used the salted one that I bought. I ate some while I peeled them and they didn't taste very salty.

I added the condensed milk mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mixed them up. I transferred it all into a rectangular baking dish that I had greased with butter and lined with baking paper, leaving about 15cm additional paper to overhand one edge.

Into the fridge to set for three hours!


Dinner
Roast Pork Scotch Fillet with Vegetables and Apple Sauce

In a baking dish I placed some chopped carrots and potato, drizzled them with olive oil and scattered some fresh rosemary and popped them into the oven at 180C. I then took out the pork roast to prepare.

The roast pork scotch fillet came tied up to maintain the shape during roasting. I made slits over the top of the meat and inserted a clove of peeled garlic and fresh rosemary. When I was done, the pork looked a bit like a hedgehog!

I peeled a few Granny Smith apples, decored them, and sliced them up. In a pot with a small amount of water, I cooked the apples on low heat for about fifteen minutes until the apples were soft enough to mash up. I also added about a tablespoon of honey and mixed this in.

When the pork was ready, some of the cloves of garlic had actually been squeezed out of the meat!

I served a thick slab of the roast pork with the roasted potato and carrots, and some of my homemade apple sauce.

After dinner, I checked to see if my hedgehog slice had set, and it had. I unwrapped it and cut a slice at one end and was rapt to see that it had turned out and was incredibly delicious to eat with my mug of hot coffee! I am so proud!

I just love the colours!

*Aah Saz, you've done it again!*

Thursday 3rd September '09

Morning Tea at Work
Teresa's Chocolate Cake

Dinner
Scotch Steak with Broccolini
and a Mushroom & Green Peppercorn Red Wine Jus
I blanched the broccolini and wrapped it in a slice of prosciutto, then squeezed some fresh lemon juice over it.


Dessert
Fresh Strawberries & Creme Fraiche

Wednesday 2nd September '09

Lunch at Work
Lasagne Pot

Afternoon Snack
Potato & Sweet Potato Bake

On the way home I stopped at the shops. I didn't know what to have for dinner. I needed something that wouldn't irritate my sore throat and I needed something more substantial than soup. I picked up some beef osso bucco cuts from the supermarket.

Osso Bucco

1. Coat the osso bucco pieces in plain flour, cracked black pepper and sea salt.
   
   
2. Heat some olive oil in a heave-based casserole dish/pan and lightly brown the osso bucco pieces and set aside. If you don't have a heave-based casserole dish, just use a regular frypan and then transfer everything over to an ovenproof casserole dish.
   
3. In the same pan, sautee some onions and then add carrots for a few minutes.
   
4. Season with some thyme and Vegeta.
   
5. Add some canned crushed tomatoes and red wine.
   
   
6. Bring to the boil, place lid on the dish and bake in the oven at 180C for about an hour and a half, occasionally stirring or just shake the dish a bit.

I would have added some celery if I had any. Perhaps some parsnips and potatoes would have been nice too but I didn't want to make too much. Just enough for dinner tonight and for lunch at work tomorrow.

I made some garlic mashed potatoes to serve it with. Basically just mashed potatoes with cracked sea salt, cracked black pepper, milk, butter and crushed garlic.

Osso Bucco with Garlic Potato Mash

Yikes - this turned out splendid! A really warm, hearty meal. Perfect for this cold weather we're having even though it's the the second day of spring.

The piece of bone had some juicy marrow - yum!

Tuesday 1st September '09

My my, we're just ripping through this year, aren't we?

I felt worse in the morning. My throat was on fire. I felt feverish. I was breathing through my mouth. Simba came to keep me company and I almost rolled over ontop of him trying to reach my phone to call in sick at work.

I got up around noon and spent most of the day in bed with several cups of honey and lemon tea, a box of tissues and a book.

Afternoon Snack
Nong Shim Korean Clay Pot Ramen

Dinner
Fish & Prawn Bee Hoon Soup

Monday 31st August '09

Morning Tea at Work
Homemade Port Wine Jelly Cups with Fruit


I bought a bundle of fresh asparagus from the Subiaco Markets yesterday and felt like chicken for dinner. I stopped at Woolworths on the way home and picked up some sliced prosciutto and a chicken thigh fillet.

I rolled the chicken thigh up with a slice of prosciutto,
some fresh basil leaves and sliced provolone.

I tied it with some kitchen string to hold it together.


I sprayed a bit of olive oil over it and baked it in the oven at 180C for about forty minutes. Just before the chicken was ready, I blanched some aparagus in boiling water, then wrapped them in slices of prosciutto and popped them into the oven to crispen up with a spray of olive oil. I also made some garlic mashed potato.

Dinner
Chicken Involtini with Asparagus Spears
and Creamy Garlic Potato Mash

Yum!

I had some leftover lamb mince bolognaise sauce in the freezer so I defrosted that to make some lasagne. I didn't want to make much, so I found two small dishes and made little 'pots' of lasagne.

I boiled some mini farfalle and placed a layer of these in the bowls.

I reheated the bolognaise sauce in the microwave and
spooned a layer over the pasta bow ties.

I made some bechamel sauce and spooned a layer over the bolognaise sauce.

I repeated the layers and finished with the rest of the bechamel sauce over the top.

Into the oven to bake for about thirty minutes at 180C, along with the potato and sweet potato bake I prepared earlier. Yes, I did alot of cooking tonight. It's to try to cut down on the time I spend in the kitchen over the next few days so I can try to get to bed earlier.

My Potato & Sweet Potato Bake
and Lasagane Pots

I started getting the sniffles at work, and by bed time my head felt so congested I could barely breathe through my mouth. I popped some cold and flu tablets and got into bed for a night of restlessness.