Meatballs ..

One of the staples on our dinner menu is Meatballs .... all the kids love them and they are so easy to make. Tonight we are going to a 'Cocktail' Party .. really just a eat and chat kinda thing :) .... so girls parents have to bring a plate of something. I find that lots of people bring sweet things... so tonight I am taking the meatballs, just not with pasta and sauce ....

Meatballs with Chilli and Lime Dip

Yumminess is off the scale .. this dip is fantastic ... the kids haven't tried it though ..

The Meatballs .. I probably don't need to tell you how to make meatballs, but here is the way I do it ..

Mince 500-700g I use around 600g for the 5 of us.
1 egg
A generous amount of breadcrumbs I use the ones from the box, I generally don't have any spare bread around.
Mixed herbs probably around 1-2 teaspoons
A good dollop of tomato sauce
and I sometimes put in around 1/2-1 teaspoons of curry powder ... just gives a little something I think ..


Mix and squish around with your hands, make into small balls and cook in a frypan.

The dip recipe is from a very old Family Circle Fabulous Mince Recipes

Chilli and Lime Dip

Combine :

1/4 cup (60ml) sweet chilli sauce
2 teaspoons of soft brown sugar
1 teaspoon of finely grated lime rind
3-4 teaspoons of lime juice **
1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil

I put the 4 teaspoons of lime juice in and found it a little too much so I put in a good squeeze of honey.

** HINT ... to make it easier to squeeze citrus, I put the limes into the microwave for 10-20 seconds and then roll on the bench ... cut them in half and squeeze and you will find that you get much more juice out of it ..


Viola ... very easy finger food to take to a party ... The red dip you see int he photo is just plain tomato sauce(ketchup), why? its still tastes good with meatballs :)

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Enjoy !

Carbonara ...

This recipe is very quick and easy, great for nights like tonight where i forgot to get any meat out of the freezer early enough ..

The recipe comes from a book I bought when I lived in Malaysia ... The author is Australian, Jane Strecker, living in Kuala Lumpur and the photographs were taken by the photographer, Sarah Grasset, i used to work with when i lived in KL....

The idea of her book is a fantastic one, its called Family to Fabulous, so each recipe has a family recipe and then on the next page is a fabulous recipe .. so the same family recipe pimped up to look very flash lol ... for those dinner guests over the age of 10 :) ...

I have change the recipe a bit to suit us ... I will type up the recipe as in the book and let you know what I change ..

Spaghetti Carbonara

RATINGS

RATINGS for ease of cooking 10
RATINGS for yumminess from the kids 9

Ingredients

8 rindless bacon rashers, chopped into small pieces
4 eggs (I only use one egg, I can't stop it going scrambled egg like so I stick to one)
1 cup cream (low fat is suitable)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (the grated parmesan in the bag is ok too)
4 spring onions (I only use 2)
400g spaghetti
Parmesan cheese, grated, to serve
(I also add mushrooms, this just adds a bit of extra flavour and yumminess - probably around 100g, chopped)


1. Fry the bacon in a frying pan, then add mushrooms. Drain on absorbent paper and set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs, cream, cheese and spring onion. Add the bacon and mushroom mix and stir through.

3. Cook the spaghetti in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Drain and return to the saucepan.

4. Pour the sauce mixture over the spaghetti and stir through over low heat until the sauce mixture is just warmed through. Avoid heating too long as the egg will start to resemble scrambled egg.

5. Serve with extra parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top ...

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Enjoy ....

Chicken Laksa

The first recipe :) ... This recipe is taken from "Australian Womens Weekly The New Classics" cookbook .... The kids loved this because they like soup, chicken and noodles ... It's not a hard recipe but if you don't do some Asian cooking then you may have to get a few ingredients....

RATINGS OUT OF 10

RATING for yumminess according to me 10
RATING for yumminess according to the kids 6


Ingredient List

1 litre (4 cups) of water
12 fresh kaffir lime leaves (from the fruit and vege section)
2 cloves of garlic (i use the jar stuff if i am in a hurry)
800g of chicken thigh fillets
1/2 cup laksa paste (i have used varying amounts according to how hot the kids like it,
if your kids don't like hot food just use a tablespoon or so)
3 1/4 cups of coconut milk
2 fresh chillies. chopped finely (I don't add these)
150g dried stick noodles
175g singapore noodles
2 tablespoons of palm sugar (this comes in little handy sachets in the asian section of the supermarket, brown sugar would do if you can't find it)
1/3 cup (80ml) of lime juice
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
80g fried tofu puffs, halved (I don't add these)
1 1/2 cups (120g) bean sprouts
1/2 cup loosely packed coriander leaves (I love coriander so I add more)
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh vietnamese mint leaves (i just use normal mint if I can't find these)


1. Place the water in a large saucepan; bring to a boil. Add 4 lime leaves, garlic and chicken, reduce heat;simmer covered for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Cool chicken in liquid for 15 minutes. Slice chicken thinly;reserve. Strain stock through muslin lined sieve (I just use a sieve like a large tea strainer) in a large bowl;discard solids. allow stock to cool;skim fat from surface.

2. Cook laksa paste in large saucepan, stirring, until fragrant. Stir in stock, coconut milk, chilli and remaining torn lime leaves; bring to a boil. Reduce heat;simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, place rice stick noodles in a large heatproof bowl, cover with boiling water, stand until just tender;drain. Place Singapore noodles in separate bowl cover with boiling water, separate with a fork, drain. Divide both noodles among serving bowls.

4. Stir sugar, juice, sauce, tofu and chicken into laksa. Ladle laksa over noodles; sprinkle with sprouts and herbs.

Serves 4 ... we are 2 adults and 3 kids and it does us well.

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So here is what it looks like .. with all those extra herbs :)

Welcome

Well ... here we are in the blogging world again ..... I still have my photography Blog however this blog is for more for the food and recipes, but there will be some photography too .....

I am no chef ... but I am a mother that has to think of what's for dinner and make it pretty much every night ... so I am qualified to enough to write about the culinary pursuits in my own kitchen ... be they successes or complete horrible failures where we end up with cereal for dinner ... believe me its happened on a number of occasions. :)

So here you will find recipes that have been a big hit, hopefully some photographs of those hits and hopefully some involvement from you the reader as time goes on :)

Enjoy ....

Of course I can't post without a photo ... and since I missed out on photographing the Roast Lamb for dinner ... you get this crazy looking flower that I captured on a walk through Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden ..