Muffin (WOAH-) Man

Seriously, I have just found my new 'go-to' muffin recipe. Sure, it has flour, egg, sugar, dairy - all those things people tend to be allergic to or avoiding these days. But this is a no fail, you're-sure-to-have-THAT-in-your-pantry, hurry-up-kids-are-starving, kind of recipe. And from 'better turn the oven on' to 'kids stuffing faces', it is about 20 minutes. And I only had to do about 2 mins work! I like-ee!

It is from the awesome Chelsea  recipe (sure they are trying to keep us addicted to sugar....). Evidently they swiped it from Allyson Gofton...

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour
• 4 tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 100g butter, melted
• 3/4 cup Caster Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk

Method

• Preheat the oven to 220°C.
• Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl until just mixed. (Don't over mix or muffins will be tough.)
• Spoon into well-greased muffin tins (about 3/4 full cups). And that's about your job finished. The oven does the rest!
• Bake for 12-15 minutes, until cooked.

Ideal served warm. Realistically, they won't have a chance to cool down....

This recipe made 18 normal sized muffins.

Salad Days

I should say salad DAZE, as I have been dreaming about them alot lately.... and day dreaming.... I am thinking a great deal about food in general lately! 


And of course, a gratuitous Monty Python link in reference to 'Salad Days'. Never miss an opportunity. I have much to thank Monty Python for, so I am glad to reference them as opportunity arises. And when I am talking or thinking, it usually does. Meh, I am who I am :)


ANYWAY!


I have two salad recipes to post here. Sadly, no photos for the first one - yet. Our camera is C-rap. Really. I cannot take a good photo. It is bugging me immensely. And I am sure it is the camera and not me. Well. A little bit sure :/


Recipe the first :)


I have no name for this one, so you'll have to make one yourself. I am sure it had one.... but my darling friend and I enjoyed a FABULOUS lunch at Tasca in Newmarket not too long ago. It is one of my favourite restaurants, I am getting warm fuzzies just thinking about it! And of course the company was wonderful, and it is that reason, not the Corona, that I am blaming for not remembering the name! However, I committed to memory the contents of the salad as it was orgasmic. Of course that could just be me. But what do I care? It was delicious. And would have been improved only by more Corona, if I hadn't been driving :( Clearly I am not in the know of the salad dressing ingredients, but I will share with you what I recreated tonight; which was ALMOST as good!


2 small chorizo sausages
Baby gherkins/pickles/cornichons (pick your corner of the world for correct interpretation!)
Eggs
Salad leaves
Baby (gourmet) potatoes
Aioli
Artichokes (from deli, not fresh)
Salad dressing (vinegarette)


Method:


Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces, oil and salt and bake in 220C oven until golden. Meanwhile, slice and fry chorizo until almost crispy.  Boil your eggs, or poach if you prefer. I like the yolks a bit runny. 


Wash salad leaves, and add small amount of dressing. On the plate, place leaves, then gherkins and artichokes (break them into pieces), potatoes and chorizo, cut boiled egg (or whole poached) and top with a small spoonful or aioli, (and lets be honest, who only has a small spoonful of aioli??)


Now put the kids to bed and woof it down. With a cold Spanish beer!


I also have to put a plug in here for Zino's Old Fashion Foods. They sell at various markets around Auckland, including Coatsville, and they make the most delicious vinegarette I have tried in years. No idea what is in it.... (ignorance can be bliss...) But if I didn't already love going to markets, they are a good reason to go back :)


Israeli Couscous  and Tandoori Chicken Salad 

I have a name for this one, because I made it up! It was a mad - 'what is in the fridge' kind of lunch day. The answer was a little of everything below! And hello! It was lovely. Even the MOTH went back for seconds. Happy dance!


There are only a few portion sizes, you have probably guessed I use recipes as a guideline....


Courgettes/Zucchini
Sweet baby peppers
Cold tandoori chicken slices (from deli, or leftovers)
1 cup Israeli couscous
Avocado
Strawberry tomatoes
Lebanese cucumbers

Salad dressing (vinegarette)



Method:


Fry couscous in oil in a pot until it is starting to go a bit crunchy (of course, there are various ways to cook it, do it your own way if you have one, but this way the couscous still has a little bite, which I love). They add 1 cup of boiling water and cook for 5-7 minutes with the lid off, stirring occasionally. Then turn off the heat, add sliced chicken and leave to sit for another 5-7 minutes.


In a frying pan, fry courgettes and peppers until cooked to your preference. Add the couscous and chicken and stir through.


Serve with salad of avocado, tomatoes and cucumber that has had a small amount of vinegarette tossed through it.


This is my way of pretending we a) actually had a summer this year, and b) it is not actually going to get any colder this year..... so I'm a winter denier. Let me go and hibernate and you can keep it!

Home on the Range..

Excuse me for laughing at my little pun there.... I am still having a little giggle. 

Anybody else feel like having a little...... giggle? (Pleeeeeease! Still waiting for Python fans to identify themselves! I KNOW I am not alone!)

I got this recipe out of a magazine and have been making it for at least four years. My kids woofed it down last night, which was especially fantastic as I wasn't in the mood for a battle of the dinner table night. Not that I ever am! So will have to pull this one out again over winter! I honestly don't measure the herbs and spices, actually, unless I am baking I never measure - shhhhh! So each time it is a little different. So I encourage you to guestimate what your tribe will prefer too. And the amount of pasta you add will also determine how far it will stretch. I used 150g dry pasta and it has given us seven portions.... Yay!

Warning - it is FAR from gourmet! It is a pure comfort food! You could add corn, or grated zucchini to up the veggies, but the attractions of this recipe are price and people pleasing!

Cowboy Casserole

500g lean beef  or chicken mince

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cans baked beans
1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon beef stock powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
 pinch oregano
1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup macaroni, cooked and drained
1 cup grated cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C.

Heat a medium-sized saucepan, add the meat and stir until browned. Add the onion and keep stirring until it softens.

Mix in the baked beans, spices, sauce and tomato paste and then sprinkle in the stock powder. Mix really well then add the cooked macaroni.

Pour the whole lot into an ovenproof casserole-type dish and cover with the grated cheese. Heat in the oven till the cheese is melted and turning brown.

Serve with salad or add some extra veg as you go. Also super delish with a little sour cream....

Chorizo and Pumpkin Pasta

This one can be a bit time consuming, but the flavours are satisfying, and it is a hearty meal for a good price - it also feeds a small battalion...

Chorizo and Pumpkin Pasta

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 courgettes/zucchini, chopped

1 1/2 cups diced pumpkin

2 tbspn olive oil (best guess!)

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

1 1/2 chorizo or other spicy sausage, sliced

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1 heaped tbspn pesto

1 tbspn tomato paste

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

dried pasta for 4-6 people

Preheat oven to 220C and roast pumpkin in oil until golden and tender, approx 30 mins.

Put the water for the pasta on to boil.

While the pumpkin is roasting, heat some more oil in a large pan and sauté the onion, garlic, celery and courgette. When they are soft, add the mushrooms and chorizo, and cook until the mushroom is soft. Add the tomatoes, pesto, paste, salt and pepper and sugar and simmer 10 - 15 mins, or until everything else is ready.

While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta.

When all is cooked, drain pasta and stir in with the sauce and pumpkin. Garnish with parmesan and parsley, if desired and enjoy with salad or garlic bread if you can be bothered!

Note: Vegetable amounts are guides only! I usually use double, and make a ridiculous amount of sauce! You can also add dried or fresh basil and oregano, and play around with the seasoning to taste. I usually chop the chorizo quite small, as at the end I often like to use a stick blender (as I have done in the photo) to make the sauce more or a thick sauce, so the kids don't notice (and pick out!) all the veg. But I do prefer chunks of veg myself! 

Saudade

Saudade is a beautiful word in Portuguese, it means a longing, missing something or someone, a heart sickness. I do miss Brazil, and I find myself thinking about it very often. Though my Portuguese is nothing like it was, I still recall so many memories of friends and places so fondly. And the food too! I could go on, but this isn't a page to bore you all with memories that would mean very little to most people. But I will share one of the yummiest things I could bring back with me :)  I have made these as a surprise to share with a group of friends tonight.... it has been difficult not to dip into them!

Brigadeiro is almost a Brazilian version of a truffle, but more like a caramel. EVERYONE makes it, and it is divine. The good news is, unlike much of the food I loved, the ingredients are easily available in the rest of the world. Hooray for me!

Brigadeiro


1/2 cup chocolate Nesquick Powder

15g butter

1 tin (400g) sweetened condensed milk

chocolate hail, coconut, cocoa powder, chopped nuts, or icing sugar

Prepare a greased plate or dish.

In a small to medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the chocolate powder and condensed milk.

On a low heat, stir continuously for approximately 15 minutes. You can use a whisk at first to make sure the powder does not go lumpy, as it will burn. The idea is not to let the caramel forming on the bottom burn, so keep stirring! Take a book with you if you need to! And don't answer the phone. This is much more important ;)  A good spatula (obviously heat proof!) is ideal for this as it gets into the corners. Stir until it is a thick custard consistency, and you can see a good deal of the bottom of the pan with each stir.

Remove the pan from the stove and scrape it onto prepared greased dish and let it cool. Once cooled, grease your hands, and using a teaspoon roll into small balls, then roll in your preferred covering. Chocolate hail is the prevalent favourite! In the pictures, I have used chocolate hail, coconut and ground almonds.

Peanut Chicken and Rice

This is a recipe Sophie Grey (the Destitute Gourmet) shared at a fundraiser I went to, and have since seen in Healthy Food Guide Magazine. A regular favourite at our place.

Once again - it ticks all of my top boxes: inexpensive, quick to make, delicious and all of the family will eat it without complaint - usually going back for seconds.... and we usually have left overs for the MOTH to take to work. Win-win-win, and so on....!  I couldn't get a 'pretty' picture of tonight's dinner, so I have 'borrowed' Sophie's. (Is that illegal now? I can't keep up!). I don't put extra peanuts on ours :)

• Peanut Chicken and Rice
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2 boneless and skinless chickenbreasts, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 cups basmati or jasmine rice
• 1 large pinch thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Cook the chicken slices until sealed (slightly brown) then set aside. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook till soft. Return the chicken to the pan and mix in the tomatoes, peanut butter, curry powder and thyme and mix well to disperse the peanutbutter through the mixture.

Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. When the mixture is boiling stir in the salt and rice. Return the mixture to the boil then cover and reduce the heat. Cook for 20 minutes on low, then check to see if all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked. (I often turn it off early and let it sit -watch out, it likes to stick to the bottom!)  Serve with a salad or green vegetables, and of course, natural yoghurt!

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

We all need them. Lazy Sunday afternoons. In order to enjoy mine I would like someone to come and sort my washing. Seeing as that probably isn't going to happen (or very fair, for that matter), I plan to paint and eat.

The house smells delicious, and now I won't be nagged all afternoon, 'Mummy, I'm hungry,', 'Mummy, what is there to eat?' etc.... Kids are hollow, no? I just whipped up the three easiest items on my baking list. Well, they are at the top of the pile- am I the only one that goes through baking 'stages', where you seem to use the same recipe for quite a while, get sick of it then resurrect it months later? I just reshuffled mine, and these are often the emergency recipes perfect for those  'I need to bring something for a shared morning tea tomorrow, Mum,' occasions that happen late on school nights. I am sure your kids would never do that to YOU. But seriously, I just made all three, and it took me under an hour. What's not to like? Full tins, yummy smelling house, minimal dishes. O for Awesome.

Corn Bread


1 Cup (130g) cornmeal
1 Cup (140g) flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1 Cup (250ml) milk
1 Cup (140g) corn kernels
chopped green chilli - optional

Preheat oven to 200C and grease and line a 20 x 20cm baking tin.

Mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine milk and egg. Pour into the cornmeal bowl and stir to make a thick, rough batter. Don't over mix. Fold in corn and chilli, then spoon into prepared tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until firm to the touch.

This is lovely served cooled spread with butter. It is a great accompaniment to many dishes, especially at a barbecue. Often I don't add the corn kernels, and I confess I usually can't be bothered with chilli either. I am sure it would be nice with chopped chives. Or grilled with cheese and relish....

Cheese Muffins

Why do I only have pink cupcake papers? 

1 Cup flour
3 tsp baking powder
2 Cups grated cheese
1 egg, beaten
1/2 Cup milk

Preheat oven to 200C and prepare a 12 cup muffin tray (greased or with cupcake papers, whatever floats your boat. The paper can be difficult to peel off, but I also hate cleaning cheese baked onto oven trays!).

Sift flour and baking powder in a large bowl. Whisk egg until it is frothy, and tip into the flour with the milk and cheese. Mix well. It is a very stodgy batter! Spoon into the prepared tray and bake for 10 mins or until golden.

For school lunches etc I often double the mix and make mini muffins for a small country. It works well :)

Chocolate Muffins

2 Cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
4 tbsp cocoa
1/4 Cup sugar
1/2 Cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp jam
1 egg, beaten
50g melted butter
1/2 Cup milk, approx.

Preheat oven to 200C and prepare 12 cup muffin tray.

Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa into a large bowl. Stir in sugar and chocolate chips. In a smaller bowl, combine melted butter, egg, jam and milk. Pour into flour and mix until just moistened. You may need a little more milk. Spoon into prepared tins and bake for 15 minutes.

See ya - off to make a cup of coffee and put my feet up while I look at my washing pile and plan my next composition!