It's back, it's back. YAY

TASTESPOTTING that is.
You have been missed by so many foodies, and it is nice to see you have overcome the difficulties you had.
We can now get our daily, sometimes hourly, food porn again.
THANK YOU and keep up the good work.

http://www.tastespotting.com/

Savoury Cheddar Muffins

Jilly's Savoury Cheddar Muffins.

(This is her recipe for cheddar muffins. The cups are Aussie cups)

Jill is a good friend of mine from N.com days and we met up again on Violets Pantry nearly a year ago now.

Please go and see her blog at http://www.2drumsticksandabottleofwine.blogspot.com

2 1/2 cups SR flour.
1/2 tsp salt.
2 eggs.
1 cup m i l k.
1/3 cup o i l.
1 cup grated courgette.
1 cup grated cheese.
1 bacon rasher, chopped.
2 spring onions,finely chopped .
parsley, finely chopped.

Options sweet corn, grated carrot, ham, peas. Paprika

sprinkled on top, or cracked pepper. Sliced toms on top.

Method.
Beat eggs, milk and oil.
Add all the other ingredients.
1/2 - 3/4 fill muffin tin that has been greased or has liners.
Bake 180 degrees for 20 min approx.

Basic Fried Rice

A very basic fried rice that you can add anything too and change the taste and look of.

You will need...

4 cups Long Grain RICE

1 ONION.

SOY SAUCE.

Oil or Dripping for frying (I love the taste that the dripping gives to the rice)

Frozen PEAS. (a handful)

Frozen CORN (a handful)

2 Spring ONIONS (sliced)

Some diced CARROT

BACON (Diced)

This is where you could play around a little

Bacon/Chicken/Prawns/Pork/Beef can all be used.

I love my electric WOK, but you can use the real thing (lol)

or a large frypan.

Method.....

Cook the rice first, I boil mine on the stove for 12 mins. Drain if needed and set aside.

Now fry the Onion and Bacon.

Add the vegies and stir.

Now add the cooked Rice and stir 'till well combined.

Sprinkle a dash of Soy sauce and stir again.

This is all done on a high heat, so please remember to

keep stirring.

Now dress with the sliced Spring Onion.

And it is ready to be served.

We had ours with Chicken tenders in a spicy coating of Chilli and Sesame seeds.

With 2 dipping sauces.

Basic Sweet and Sour, and a Ginger, soy and sweet chilli.

Bestest Chocolate Brownies in the WORLD

Have had this recipe hanging around for nearly a year now and today I made them for the first time. Boy, are they good. I can not recommend them enough.

The recipe says to use Castor sugar, but I had none, so used dark brown sugar instead. I also just used dark choc pieces instead of white. But hey, you have a fiddle too and see what you can come up with. I shall be making them again this week and trying a different combo.

Here's the original recipe given to me by Heather (Hevz) of Violets Pantry.

100g/4oz butter 50g/2oz cocoa powder (I use Green and Blacks) 2 eggs 225g/8oz caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 50g/2oz self-raising flour 50g/2oz white chocolate chips (I usually use choc chunks, they're bigger)

1-Preheat oven to 180c/350f/gas 4

2-Take a shallow baking tin, approx 23cm/9inch square, and line the bottom with non-stick liner or baking parchment (very important you do this).

3-Melt the butter, then add the cocoa powder, stirring well to remove any lumps (I use my mini whisk)

4-Beat the eggs in a large bowl, add the sugar and mix until smooth.

5-Stir in the cocoa mixture, white choc chunks and the vanilla extract and mix well.

6-Add the flour and mix gently with a spoon, be careful not to over mix.

7-Pour mixture into the lined baking tin and place in the middle of the oven for about 25 mins.

When done the brownies should be crisp on top and soft in the middle. Leave to cool for 10 mins in the tin before turning out onto a board and then cutting into squares.

Now, here's a piccie of mine before dusting of icing sugar and one after.

Savoury nibbles from the Deli.

Once a month or so, the very thought of going into the kitchen and cooking yet another meal, gives me the screaming horrors.

I had one of those days yesterday. So, off to the deli I went.

Now, it was only a few years ago, that this sort of thing was unheard of in Australia. But thanks to many emigrants from all over the world, we can now source all sorts of different foods.

Italy, being my favorite food producer, and the Italian men aren't bad either. (But I am going off subject with that one, sorry)

Here's a list of just some of my buys.

Roasted Artichokes.

Stuffed vine leaves.

Sopresso mild and shaved.

Stuffed green and black olives.

Sun dried Tomatoes.

Dill pickles.

English pickled onions.

Fetta.

Vintage cheddar cheese.

Smoked salmon pate.

Orange and brandy liver pate.

Taboli.

I had fun laying it out too, as you can see by the picture.

And here's the beautiful Pate.

Hubby had a glass or two of a soft Merlot and I had a cup of English PG Tips TEA. (Which was sent to me by a good friend and blogger George from
http://culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess.wordpress.com/ Cheers.)

Spicey Mac Cheese (I did it my way)

WOW. Never again will I make Mac cheese the old way. Thanks to Food Gawker and more importantly The Pioneer Woman (Picture 327) I have found a far more exciting recipe with a kick all of it's own. But credit goes to you first P.W.

I had no cream so used sour cream, added peas and medium heat chilli (fresh) as I can't get the tinned sort she used by El Paso.






Here's what I did......







Cook around 3 cups of pasta in the normal way. While that is cooking, grate a cup of cheddar cheese, dice 1 onion, 1 capsicum, from the freezer get a handful

of baby peas and another handful of

sweet corn.





Now, in butter, fry the onion 'til sort,

add the capsicum, peas, corn and chilli.


Drain off the pasta, once cooked and toss

into veg mix and stir well.

Add the sour cream and stir then add the

grated cheese. Stir again. It's now ready.



Enjoy.














I served ours with a lovely steak cooked in garlic butter and had it with honey wholegrain mustard, and the SPICEY MAC CHEESE of course.

Please, go and see the Pioneer Woman. Her photo's on the recipe are just beautiful and so well explained too.

Oh so easy, Risotto cheesey.

I have never made Risotto before and the very thought of standing in one place and stirring for up to 20 mins, really turned me off doing it.

But a recipe from Nigella Express kept calling me. So off to the supermarket to get the Arborio rice (as I did not keep it in the store cupboard) and some white wine. Plenty of mixed reds but not a drop of white in the house.

I also got some rather nice Sopressa sausage which I had sliced very thinly.

Then got all the ingreds together.

I then set the table and made a simple salad of mixed lettuce leaves, avacado and Snow pea shoots.

Now, to start the Risotto, fry the onions in a little butter and add the rice while stirring, mustard and winein next, stirring all the time.

Start ladling in the hot stock a little at a time and stirring constantly, more stock, stir, more stock, stir. Until all the stock is in and the rice is al dente.

Stir in the cheese and sausage in my case. Keep stirring and take off heat and plate up on to warmed dishes.

Enjoy your meal. We did. And I shall be making this again and again.

I put ribbons of the Sopresso sausage on top with some chives and more grated cheese.
For those of you that are interested, this came from Nigella Express, written by the ever gorgis Nigella Lawson. Page 176.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you.

The GORGIS George of http://culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess.wordpress.com/ has tagged me. At first, until I had read it all the way through, I didn't understand what it meant. But now I do and THANK YOU George.



Here are the rules:


1..Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2..Share six random and/or weird things about yourself.
3..Tag six random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4..Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.



Here's some random facts about me.

1.. I hate fish. Unless it comes in a tin and starts with S (salmon) Or is a fish cake from the local take away food place.

2.. I am married to my first and only husband for 36 years. Wouldn't change a thing.

3.. I am a slap happy type of cook. Bung it all in and hope for the best. Then, when it goes wrong, blame it on the first person to walk into the kitchen.

4.. I would walk over broken glass, bare foot to get to and consume CHOCOLATE and ENGLISH JELLY BABIES.

5..My favorite perfume and body lotion is by DIOR. J'adore. A clean, fresh and feminine fragrance which I J'adore.

6.. And I think this last one is the hardest to think about. So I shall tell you that my husband and I are one of the last of the *TEN POUND POMS* to emigrate from the U.K. to Australia back in the early 70's.
I would like to tag please...
Gail of

http://vipantrywedonthaveablogblog.blogspot.com/

Teresa of http://teresagskitchen.blogspot.com/

Linda of http://wwwthinkingaboutfood.blogspot.com/

Rosie of http://rosiebakesapeaceofcake.blogspot.com/

Anna-Maria of http://atannaskitchentable.blogspot.com/

Thank you George, that was fun. Love ya heaps. And good luck with the book.

The Humble Spud

I love Potato's. Anywhere, anytime, anyhow, breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The United Nations has declared 2008, International Year of the POTATO.

There are so many different ways of cooking and serving this wonderful vegetable.

Baked, roasted, boiled, fried, sauteed, etc, etc.

This is one of my favorites, and it can be changed to suit what you have in the store cupboard.

The amounts are not exact and very slap hazard, but then I am that type of cook.

You will need:

Potato's.

Grated cheese.

Spring onions. (diced)

Capsicum. (diced)

Sour cream. (optional)

Butter.

Milk.

Ham or Bacon. (diced)

Seasoning.

Method

Wash and prick some large potato's.

Place in oven (180c) and cook until ready.

Cut them in half and scoop out the flesh, leaving the skins intact.

Place flesh into a large bowl and mash together with butter, milk and/or sour cream.

Then add all other ingreds to the mix and mix in well.

Put the mix back into the skins and top with a little more of the grated cheese and seasoning.

Put all filled skins on to a tray and pop under the grill to brown.

ENJOY.

Mentor award to.............

the three following BLOGGERS. Who have taught me so much and been very patient with me.





George of........... http://www.culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess.wordpress.com/





Brenda of........ http://www.teandwheatenbread.blogspot.com/





Linda of......... wwwthinkingaboutfood.blogspot.com/





Please see link...... http://www.sueblimey.com/








Thank you so much girls, now even more time is spent on this computer.
And THANK YOU Sue too.

A coffee tasting cake

Unlike other coffee cakes, this one actually tastes of coffee. Most coffee cakes I have seen, either have a little coffee taste or none at all and should be eaten with coffee.

Ingreds.

125gms Butter.

1 cup Caster Sugar.

3 Eggs, lightly beaten.

1 teasp. Vanilla Essence.

1 tblesp. Instant Coffee powder.

3/4 cup Plain Flour.

1/2 cup S.R. Flour.

1/3 cup Sour Cream.

Method.

Preheat oven to 160c.

Grease cake tins, I used sandwich tins. (I wanted to put icing between the layers)

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy.

Add the eggs, slowly, a bit at a time, mixing between adding more.

Mix the vanilla essence and coffee in a little warm water until dissolved.

Add coffee mixture to butter mix and beat until combined.

With a large spoon, fold in the sifted flours and the sour cream. Stir until well combined.

Spoon the mixture in to prepared tin/s (You could just use a loaf tin here) and smooth out.

Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Let cool before turning out cake. Then cool some more on a wire rack.

This is truly a delightful cake and so easy yet again. No need to ice if you don't wish. I did chocolate icing between layers and coffee butter icing on the top.

Have something to say?

If you are not interested in any of the items here, on this blog, then, feel free to leave a comment here.

But, please be kind, and thoughtful to how and what you type.

Remember, I am the editor and I can always delete.

Hoping you are having a nice day and you are well, happy, and content with your life. As I am.

Regards Sally

Basic MUFFIN recipe

I have been using this recipe for over 20 years and to be very honest with you, I don't know where it came from. It is hand written into a recipe book that my MUM gave me many years ago, and it was given to her by my brother. So there's all sorts of odd writings in it. I shall pass it on to my grand daughter when the time comes.

MUFFINS.


Ingreds.

2 cups S.R. Flour.

3/4 cup Sugar.

2 Eggs.

3/4 cup Milk.

1/2 cup Veg Oil.


Method.

Place all wet ingreds into a bowl and mix to combine.

Then put the dry ingreds in and only mix for a short time,

so as not to over work the flour.

Now this is where you can get really creative!

Add cocoa for choc muffins.

Or dried fruit.

Choc chips.

Ginger.

The list is endless.


Bake.

Fill muffin cases or tin to 3/4 full.

Place in a preheated oven 180c,

for 20 mins or till golden brown.
Leave to cool before icing.

I did, cocoa and coconut, with choc icing and topped with coconut.

Cherry and cocoa, with melted white chocolate.

and triple choc, with butter choc icing and choc sprinkles.