Tasmania – the gift that keeps on giving.

In April, Hubby and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary with 5 wonderful days in Tasmania. You can read about our trip and what we got up to here and here. 

We couldn’t have gone on this trip alone if it hadn’t been for Mum-O, my parents and the two aunties stepping in to look after the kids for us. 

As we travelled along the East Coast of Tasmania and inland to Cradle Mountain I popped in at some shops and strolled through Salamanca Markets. I considered items we could get these family members to thank them for having our children, but with certain members on decluttering missions and others with far too many tea towels to count, I didn’t want us to be adding to the clutter. 

We thought about what Tasmania does well and decided to buy some Tasmanian produce to give to our family and cook a Tasmanian themed dinner for them upon our return. 

Now unfortunately life and money got in the way for quite some time. Entertaining isn’t always cheap and with family who have weekend commitments due to work/volunteering etc it took us 5 months but we finally hosted these family members for dinner last Saturday night. 

This is what we served:

Oven baked crumbed Tasmanian Camembert with cranberry sauce. 

Tasmanian salman pie with garlic mash and green beans

Honey and lemon curd tart with blueberries made with Tasmanian stringybark honey. 

I selected Tasmanian Riesling and Tasmanian Apple Cider to serve with the meal. 

The food produce that we brought home for our family included some Tasmanian chocolate coated coffee beans, ginger chocolate, blueberry and raspberry jam and rhubarb syrup. 

Normally when I cook a meal like this, I don’t enjoy it. I don’t know why. My Dad is the same. But this meal, I thoroughly enjoyed!

The story of the travelling pork roast.

We are very fortunate that we live close to both sides for families. This means on a Sunday night you will find us at Mum O’s house enjoying a Sunday night dinner.

Last Sunday night Mum O cancelled dinner as she was going to be away and wasn’t sure what time she would be back. I decided I was going to cook a pork roast, complete with crackling, and roast veggies.

Hubby and Miss 6 did the grocery shopping on Saturday morning and purchased everything we needed. Sunday morning I dried out the rind and returned to the fridge to continue drying out.

Once we got back from Hubby’s football game I pre-heated the oven to 240, boiled the kettle, pouree it over the pork, dried the pork, lathered it with olive oil and covered the pork with salt flakes.  I wanted crackling!!!

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I decided to watch a Facebook video I’d been meaning to watch whilst the oven came up to temperature. As I watched I thought I saw a flickering light out of the corner of my eye. I then thought maybe the fan from the oven was blowing the tea towel on the oven and returned to my video after checking what temp the oven was at – 200. Ok – not long to go. 

I the saw more flickering and decided to keep my eye on the oven. Yep!  The oven was sparking and then the temp started dropping!  My oven died right when I was cooking a roast!!!  

Plan B – take roast to Mum O’s and cook it there!  So my baking tray and I headed off in the car with my laptop and diary to do some work whilst it cooked and some “quiet time” from the kids. Win/win!

Mum O had just arrived home so once I had her ok to intrude, in the roast went. After all my efforts getting the piece of meat ready the crackling didn’t crackle!  Off it came and under the grill it went. Came up a little burnt but tasty enough. 

Once it was all cooked, I grabbed a towel and took my roast home again!

Did I enjoy it – sure did. But now we need to decide whether to repair our oven or purchase a new one.  Should I cook a roast for the first meal in our new oven should we go that route?

If you’ve enjoyed reading this post, please give it a like. If you have anything to say, leave a comment, I’d love to chat. If you think it would be of benefit to someone, please share. 

Homemade Pizza

Come Friday night, everyone is tired and I am counting down the minutes before we can get the kids to bed, I can pop on my PJ’s and settle in with a cup of tea and Better Homes and Gardens, followed by The Living Room (you do know I am a 62 year old trapped in a 32 year olds body, don’t you…😉).

I am the main “dinner cookerer” in this house and come Friday night I don’t wanna anymore!  Instead of takeaway, I plan something really easy. Quite often homemade pizza, in front of the TV (we eat at the table for all other meals) and a kid friendly movie. 

Many years ago, BC (before children), we stayed in the Blue Mountains for the weekend and dined at an Italian restaurant in Blackheath (sorry, don’t remember the name). We shared a pizza and it was so delicious, we tried to replicate it at home. We went back a few years later, ordered the pizza and it turned out we preferred our version. 

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast
• 1 packet Leggo’s pizza sauce
• 1/2 jar of Masterfoods Red Wine and Garlic marinade
• 2 slices Lebanese bread
• Avocado
• Small handful of semi-dried tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• Light sour cream
• Mozzarella cheese

Method:

1. Cut chicken into small cubes, place in bowl and cover with marinade.  Cover with cling wrap and place in the fridge to marinade. 
2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. 
3. Cook chicken in frypan until cooked through. 
4. In a bowl mash avocado, add garlic and sour cream. Mix well. 
5. Place Lebanese bread onto pizza baking tray. Spread pizza sauce over bread. 
6. Add cooked chicken, sundried tomatoes, avocado mix and cheese.
7. Place in the oven for 1o minutes or until cheese has melted. 
8. Slice and serve!

We absolutely love this pizza. We go through phases of remembering it and including it in our menu plan, and then forgetting it again for a while. 

What’s your go to recipe on a Friday night?

Do you have a favourite pizza recipe?

Do you love BH&G and The Living Room?

Banana Bread

Last week was Federal Election time which brings with it P&C sausage sizzles and cake stalls at polling booths.

I had 18 bananas in the freezer and made 6 batches of banana bread. 5 for school and 1 for us. It was so delicious, I thought I’d share the recipe with you:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup self-raising flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 125 grams butter, melted, cooled
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Grease and line the base inside of an 11 x 20 x 6cm deep loaf pan.
2. Combine flours, sugar and cinnamon in a large bowl. 
3. Whisk butter and eggs together, stir in the banana.
4. Combine the dry and wet ingredients and pour into the prepared pan. 
5. Place mixture into the oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Serve warm, spread with butter.

Such a simple recipe, but the result is a delicious banana bread!
Today I have served it with honey, strawberries and cream for a visit from my brother and his kids!

Burnt butter and sage gnocchi

So, what are you having for dinner tonight?  If you need to pop down to the supermarket to grab something – maybe grab these ingredients:

• 100g unsalted butter, chopped
• 16-20 small sage leaves
• 800g gnocchi, cooked
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, shaved or grated
• Pink salt flakes
• And the surprise ingredient – HONEY!

My husband and I visited a local Italian restaurant in April for our wedding anniversary. My entrée was burnt butter and sage gnocchi. When the meal arrived, it looked delicious and when I tasted it, I was amazed at how good it was and the surprise taste of honey added to the dish.

Method:

1. Place chopped butter into a large frying pan over medium heat. Cook until melted then add sage leaves to pan. Cook butter and sage leaves, swirling pan often, for 4-5 minutes or until sage leaves are crisp and butter has turned a deep nut-brown colour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. It was at this stage that I added a good drizzle of honey to the pan to allow it to melt into the sauce.
3. Add gnocchi to frying pan and toss to coat in burnt sage butter. To serve, divide gnocchi among bowls, spooning over any burnt butter that is left in the frying pan. Sprinkle with parmesan and pink salt and enjoy immediately.

I thought it needed more honey but my husband thought it was just right and the kids ate it too!