The most love-liest things from the last 2 weeks.

We were away last week so I didn't do my weekly round up of the positives in my life, so here is a selection.

Food - always.

homemade muesli and blueberries

....and coffee, sometimes....

coffee instead of a walk

the last fruits of summer

healthy highway food

info office designed by world famous architect

feet up, Rake, wine, new caravan

we own a lot of trees

beautiful coast of NSW

our new home

retro bar at the Blue Mountains music festival

discovering new music faves

and some familiar faces and songs *

Phew!
It has been a very busy couple of weeks.
What have you been loving this week?

*tribute to Pete Seeger at the Blue Mountains Music Festival, with Eric Bogle, Eleanor McEvoy, Rory Mcleod, Pieta Brown and others.

How to make quiche.

Everyone loves quiche, right?
It is actually easy to make, but then I have a pastry-making gene, as my mum was an ace pastry-maker.
But, honestly how hard can pastry be?
It has 3 ingredients and one of those is water!

So this is how to make quiche - and pastry.

For a roughly 25cm quiche dish you need -
190g plain flour
98g butter or margerine
some cold water, put some water in a jug or cup and add an ice cube.

There are 2 ways to make pastry - the messy, controlled way or the keep-your-hands-clean slightly more chaotic method.

The messy way is the "rubbing in" method.
Put the flour in a bowl and cut the butter (or margerine) up with a knife right in the flour. Keep chopping at it with your knife.
"Hey, that's not messy!"
But wait - here comes the bit where you put your hands into the flour and butter and rub the mixture between your thumb and fingers until "it resembles breadcrumbs" (that's the classic description) or until it the butter has become one with the flour with no big lumps.
Make a bit of a hollow in the middle and pour in a couple of tablespoons of cold water.
Mix in with a knife.
This part is a bit more tricky because the exact amount of water is open to debate.
You want the mixture to come together to form a ball of dough, without being too dry or too soggy.
You might need to add a bit more water and keep stirring like mad with the knife.
When it is all pretty much gathered into a lump, turn it out onto a previously floured work surface and quickly and gently knead it into a ball.
Do not overdo this part as if there is one thing that pastry hates and that is too much massage.
Wrap in glad wrap and pop it in the fridge.

Method 2.
Put flour and butter in food processor.
Whizz.
Add 2 tablespoons of water.
Whizz.
You might need to scrape everything back off the sides of the bowl.
You might have to add a bit more water. Whiz until it kind of all sticks together.
(At this stage I always add too much water and end up with sticky goop).
Then do the dumping out onto the floured bench part...

Heat your oven to 200 C.

Prepare the filling.
I used asparagus.
I steamed the asparagus for 1 minute in the microwave.
I kept 6 or 7 spears and chopped the rest into 2cm lengths.

Beat 4 eggs in a bowl or jug.
Add 1 cup of cream/milk/or a mixture.
I added some dried tarragon as it seems to go nicely with asparagus and seasoned with pepper.
Grate a cup of cheese.

When the oven is heated up you are going to blind- bake the pastry.

Get the pastry out of the fridge and put on your floured surface.
Roll it out with a rolling pin if you have one, with a bottle or glass if you don't, until it becomes a circle just a little bigger that your quiche dish.
Drape it over the rolling pin and lay it on the dish, easing it down into the corners, trying not to stretch it. Pastry doesn't like to be stretched.
It should drape slightly over the edges, yes?
Trim the edge off and keep the trimmings.
If you pastry has cracked or got a hole somewhere, you can patch it with these trimmings. Moisten the pastry with your finger dipped in water and stick the patch to the hole.

Get a big piece of greaseproof paper or baking paper or aluminium foil and line the pastry shell with it.
Next you need some dried beans to weight down the pastry so it doesn't puff up when you bake it.

Pop in the oven for about 20 mins until the pastry looks slightly cooked and the edges just starting to colour.

Take out of the oven and remove the paper and beans.
You can keep the beans in a jar for next time,but you can't use them to make real beans anymore.

Sprinkle a bit of the grated cheese in the pie shell.
Add the asparagus.
Pour eggy mixture over the top.
Sprinkle on rest of cheese.
Lay reserved asparagus spears decoratively on the top.

Cook in oven for about 30 mins until puffed up and browned.

See? It's easy!

How to - cook risotto {with just about anything}

Risotto is one of my "go-to" dishes when I don't know what the heck I'm going to have for dinner.
I do try not to have it more than once a week though!

Risotto is easy-peasy!

You just need short grain rice - I use arborio rice, just the ordinary old kind from the supermarket.
And you need some vegetables.
Also useful is some wine for cooking {and maybe slurping as you cook!} and some stock {I use vegeta stock powder}

Tonight I rummaged around to see what veggies I had - there was some sweet potato {or kumera as it is sometimes called} and bit of cauliflower that needed using up and I had a tin of corm kernels.

And here's what I did -

Cut the sweet potato into roughly 2cm cubes and the cauliflower into mini florets.
Doused them in some olive oil and roasted them for about 20 mins in a moderate oven, giving them a stir after 10 mins.

While that was cooking I chopped half an onion and sauted that in my wok pan until it was translucent, I added a squishes clove of garlic and 1 cup of arborio rice.
Gave everything a good stir.

Put the kettle on.

Stir the rice and onion until the rice also goes a bit translucent.
Add 1/4 cup of white wine {you can have a slug as well at this stage if you like}.
When the wine has disappeared from the pan add 1 cup of boiling water from the kettle, give it all a good stir. You can add your stock cube or powder now as well.

Traditionally you are supposed to stir risotto continuously but this is a bit of a bother and I normally find it's ok to just give it a stir now and again as you pass by.

When the water has all been absorbed add another cup of boiling water and stir as before....after that has all gone add another 1/2 cup of water which might be enough...if the rice still isn't cooked add another 1/2 cup of water.

Pop in the corn kernels.
By now the sweet potato and cauliflower should be cooked - take it out of the oven and stir in as well.

Finally add a quarter of a cup of grated parmesan cheese.

Yum!

Other risotto options -
roast pumpkin, leek and peas.
mushroom and aparagus.

What is your favorite?

Makin' it Monday - a simple little salad

Even though the weather is a little cooler (and it's bucketing down with rain!) I just felt like concocting a salad, with some warm bits....

I already had cooked some beetroot - I boiled mine but it's also yummy if you roast it.

I cooked some of those little blueish Puy Lentils, they don't need any soaking and only take 20 - 25 minutes to cook.
Just place 1 cup of lentils in a saucepan with 3 cups of water, partially cover the saucepan when the water comes to the boil. Drain off any excess water.
Mix the lentils with a couple of chopped tiny roma tomatoes, or about a half a big tomato, and a 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion. Mix in 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar (or brown balsamic, or cider vinegar) and 2 tablespoons virgin olive oil, plus a couple of tablespoons of fresh herbs (I used oregano and coriander, but you could use parsley, basil, mint or whatever you have) and a bit of ground black pepper.

I  grilled a yellow capsicum until the skin blackened slightly, wrapped it in the foil it was resting on under the grill for a few minutes - this helps you to peel the skin off. Thinly slice the capsicum. (You could use a red or green capsicum if you don't happen to have a yellow one)

This would have been lovely with some blanched asparagus - but sadly there was no asparagus in my fridge, so I blanched some broccolini instead.

I put some baby spinach leaves on the plate, followed by the lentils and some crumbled feta, topped with the capsicum. Garnished with the beetroot and broccolini on the side.
You could eat it like this, but I love salad dressings, so I mixed a quick dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and whole grain mustard and drizzled that over the top.

So colourful! And so yummy!

Saturday Seven # 2

Thanks to everyone who dropped in last week and "hi" again.
Let's hope that this little listing game can build a great network and a vibrant community.
Are you ready for week 2?

This one will tickle your tastebuds!

Your 7 favorite foods! Yum.

OK, I'll go first.

1. Chocolate. Yes, I'm a chocoholic! I love most things chocolatey. I love milk chocolate and I love quality dark chocolate. There - it's out!

2. Cheese. All sorts of cheese. I have never met a cheese I did't like. Hard, soft, runny, blue, goats milk - you name it!

3. Yoghurt. Plain yoghurt with sliced banana and a drizzle of honey makes me smile.

4. Chips, potato crisps - call them what you will. Not the healthiest of foods, but there's just something about the saltiness that I find irresistible.

5. As a whole food group, I love veggies.
Yes, my name is Tess and I'm a veggo.

6. Cuisine? I love Indian food - that is despite getting thoroughly fed up with curries during 2 trips to India and having a really vile dose of gastroenteritis. (My doctor said she has never known anybody who has visited India who hasn't got sick!)

7. Finishing off with something sweet - I love Danish Pastries - good quality ones, with custard and apricots, or cherries or plums. Yum!

You're next!

See you next week : )

Is it wrong to have chocolate for breakfast?

Back before Christmas I posted about christmas muffins.

I tried out a few recipes and in the end made up my own variation.

Here is the recipe -

2 cups self-raising flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips 
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1 cup milk

In a large bowl thoroughly mix the first 6 ingredients.
Lightly beat the egg, add the oil and milk.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix just until the flour is moistened. Do not over mix.
Spoon into muffin tins and cook for about 20 mins at 180 degrees C.

So we did have chocolate for breakfast on Chrsitmas Day!
....and it didn't feel wrong at all!

Making it Monday - Christmas muffins

I have an inkling to make muffins for Christmas breakfast - not just your common or garden variety, but muffins infused with the smells and tastes of Christmas.

What would those be?
Spices? Cranberries? Nuts? Chocolate?

I have looked in my vast collection of recipe books and couldn't find anything.
And, OK, I could just make it up, but I thought - "hey, there's a blog post in this!"

So I googled and up popped Nigella - of course.

They would be sure to work (you can find the recipe here) but....not quite what I'm looking for.

How about this one, which looks great as a gift -

The recipe - how to make them as well is here. 

Cranberries, pecans and orange? Yum! Now that sounds more like the aromas of Christmas.

The recipe is here.


But I really like the sound of these fruity muffins -

They have got cranberries (which I have 2 bags of), dark and white chocolate (how can I resist?) and fruit mince (Huge jar in pantry)....so this could be the go!
I found the recipe here and here one version is metric, the other imperial - take your pick!

I'll let you know how they turn out.

Have you got a fabulous Christmas muffin recipe?
Or a tradition that you have for Christmas breakfast?

Wordless Wednesday - it's all about the food and drink

Makin' it Monday - what to do with too many rice noodles

So I cooked some rice noodles, you know those little skinny ones that look like nothing and then when you cook them you have n-o-o-d-l-e-s!
Oodles of noodles!
What was I thinking? There are only 2 of us here now and I still think I'm cooking for an army!

So the next night it was hot and I decided that a salad was in order.

I gathered together some vegetables -

and some leftover fried tofu -

I used 2 cups of the cooked noodles.
I added 1/2 cup diced capsicum
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup baby corn these 3 I blanched in boiling water.

Plus 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup sliced red cabbage
1 cup of bean sprouts
and 1/2 cup diced fried tofu.
I just use the ready-fried tofu that you can buy at the supermarket, but you could fry your own or use unfried tofu.

Mix it all up with a dressing of
2 Tbs lime juice
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs oil
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tsp ground coriander powder
2 Tbs chopped fresh herbs, I used basil and coriander
Pinch of chilli flakes if you like

Serve with chopped peanuts on top.

It's very refreshing!

You could use other fresh or blanched vegetables, and omit the tofu if you really object to it.

ps I still didnt manage to use all the noodles - I think they will have to be composted.

pps I failed to use the ginger even thought I photographed it!

Do you have any suggestions for leftover noodles?

Makin' it Monday - muffins

Another easy as pie recipe - or easy as muffin!

Muffins are a great snack, they are very versatile. You can use white flour, wholemeal flour - you can add all sorts of goodies - fruit, nuts, flavourings - and you can even make savoury ones.

This is my basic recipe.
Today I'm making peach and almond muffins. Often I make blueberry (as I have a wonderful supply of frozen berries) or lemon and coconut ones.

Heat oven to 190 degrees C.

Prepare your muffin tin, oil your tin or line with paper muffin cases.

  In a large bowl combine 2 and 1/2 cups of self-raising flour (or 2 and 1/2 cups plain flour sifted with 5 teaspoons of baking powder)
1 cup of sugar (I used raw sugar, but you can use white sugar or brown sugar)

Chop 1 cup of peaches.
Add to flour with 1/2 cups chopped nuts (I used slivered almonds)

Mix together with a spoon.
Then add 1 cup of milk, 1 beaten egg and 1/4 cup of vegetable oil (of your choice)

Mix until the dry ingredient are moistened, do not over mix - it doesn't need to be perfectly smooth.

Spoon into your prepared muffin tins.

Cook for 20 mins until risen and browned.

Let cool as much as you can before you eat and enjoy!

Other ingredients could be date and walnut, fig and hazelnut, banana and choc chips, raspberries and white chocolate, grated apple and cinnamon, pear and pecans, - oh, the combinations are endless!
What are you favorite muffins?

Please leave a thoughtful comment if you would like to enter this week's giveaway, which I will draw tomorrow.
You can leave a comment on any of my posts.

There are more blogtoberfest giveaways happening over on Ms Curlypops blog.

Want to find out what blogtoberfest is all about? Head on over here.

Makin' it Monday - hummus

Hummus or is it houmous, hummous, hummus or humos?

Whatever - homemade hummus is the easiest-peasiest thing ever!
It is so much nicer than the store bought variety, thought there are probably deli brands that are pretty good - but the cost? Oo-la-la!

This dip is whizzed up quicker than you can say "chickpea"! and is cheap as chips.

I use canned organic chickpeas, but this is probably even better if you cook your own chickpeas.
Cooking your own take s abit of planning ahead because you need to soak chickpeas overnight and then cook for about an hour until they are soft.

When you have your chickpeas at hand (rinse your tinned ones in cold water first) toss them in your food processor or blender, along with 2 tablespoons of tahini, 1 teaspoon of pressed garlic and the juice of a lemon.

Whizz it all up.
If you are using a blender you might need to scrape the mixture from the sides of the goblet.

Add some chopped parsley, half a teaspoon of ground cummin, some black pepper and a pinch or more of paprika.

Whizz again.

Taste to see if it needs salt.
I find that using tinned chickpeas makes it salty enough but add a little salt if you like.

This makes a rather thick spreadable hummus, if you want a more dippable one add some water 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

Traditionally this is served with a puddle of olive oil in the middle, but I serve as is with crackers or pita bread.

Do you make your own hummus?
Remember to leave a thoughtful comment if you'd like to go in the draw for one of planettreasures' necklaces here. It's drawn tomorrow evening.

Pasta with gorgonzola and zuccini

Just have to share this delicious pasta dish I just made!

It's a bit tasty! As long as you are not frightened of blue cheese!

I served it with a raw beetroot salad, but a green or tossed salad would be just as nice.

For 2 people.

Dice and saute 1 small or half a large onion in some olive oil until softened.
Add 2 medium diced zuccini and continue sauteing until softened but before they go mushy.

While that is happening cook 250 grams of your favorite pasta, I used penne.

And also while that is all happening mix together 125 grams of cream cheese (I use philly light, but you could use regular cream cheese) and 125 grams gorgonzola cheese, just mash them together with a fork.

When the pasta is cooked drain it and stir in the zuccini and the cheese mixture. Season with some black pepper if you like.
This is quite a salty already, so I wouldn't recommend adding any extra salt.

Serve with raw beetroot salad.

Peel and grate one small beetroot.
Peel and grate one apple.
Finely slice on stalk of celery.
Finely slice 1/4 green capsicum.
Chop a handful of walnuts.
Mix well together with 2 teaspoon cider vinegar and 2 teaspoons of cold pressed olive oil.

Tonight I will be drawing the winner of the earrings and announcing anothe giveaway.
So statyed tuned!

Makin' it Monday - Malay fried noodles with prawns

So yesterday was our annual family Christmas in July, except it's nearly always in August.

A fair bit of eating and drinking goes on and a lot of catching up.
And that is the whole point I guess - it's always to hard to catch up with everybody at Christmas as there are so many extended families involved now, so this mid-year get-together is just for us!

Everybody contributes some food and there is always masses of it!

Needless to say there are always leftovers and this year we were lucky enough to be left with the prawns!

So this is what I did with them for dinner tonight -

Malay fried noodles with prawns adapted from"New recipes from Moosewood Restaurant"



250g chinese wheat noodles or vermicelli or noodles of your choice.
1/2 onion sliced
Garlic clove - crushed
Bit of dried chilli - to taste
Leftover prawns (mine were cooked) shelled and de-veined
Cup of shredded cabbage
Cup of sliced snow peas
1/4 capsicum sliced
Stick of celery sliced
handful beansprouts
soy sauce
chopped coriander

Cook the noodles in boiling water until just done - mine took 5 mins, or even more easy-peasy you could use those cooked ones in packets.
Drain and stir in some sesame oil.

In wok heat some oil (I always use olive oil, cus that's what I have)
Cook the sliced onion until soft.
Add the garlic, dried chilli capsicum and celery stir fry for a couple of minutes.
Add the cabbage and snow peas, continue to stir fry until pleasnatly crisp.
Add the prawns, noodles and a tablespoon or 2 of soy sauce.
Stir until everything is warmed through.
Stir in beansprouts, take off heat.
Serve with coriander and lime wedges.

To make it a bit more Malay you could top with fried onion, crispy fried garlic and chopped shallots, but I didn't want to fuss that much.

This is a quick stir fried dinner and this quantity was enough for 2 to 3 people, unless one of them is Mr planet in which case there is enough for 2!

So do you do the Christmas in July thing?

 What about leftovers?
Do you always have plenty and what do you do with them?
Feed them to the chooks?
Leave them in the fridge for a week and then throw them away?!

Lunch with Mel and Dora

Today I met one of my on-line friends for the first time, but it didn't feel like the first time.

That's how it can be with on-line friends especially ones you have known for 3 years or more. People think how can you genuinely be friends with someone you have never met in person? but I'm sure you all know that you can.

It's a newer version of having a pen pal, but more instant.

And when you finally actually meet, it feels like you have known them for ever and you feel so comfortable in their company and the visit is just too short and you want to have more meet-ups with them.

Has this ever happened to you?

Well I met with Mel today and Dora (Mel's dog who I failed to get a photo of)

We had lunch.

And then we had coffee and cake and then I came home, but I wish I could do it all again tomorrow.

Instead I came home and cooked roast veggies to have with our Monday night pasta - I just roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, capsicum, mushrooms and mini roma tomatoes in olive oil, then I tossed them with coriander pesto. Served with the little risoni pasta. Nice!

You can find blogtoberfest participants here.

Blogtoberfest giveaways are here.

And my giveaway is here! Drawn tomorrow!