Natural Hand Scrub.. also fantastic for relaxing pedicures!

Natural Hand Scrub.. almost fantastic for relaxing pedicures!

 

Make your own natural hand scrub for the kitchen... Combine 3/4 cup white sugar, 2 tbs sea salt flakes, 1/2 cup of olive oil and lemon zest.

 

 Store on an airtight container. To use wet your hands and scrub with 1 teaspoon of the mixture between your fingers and over palms then rinse..

Italian Kangaroo Burger

Must be starting to  feel better because I'm kind of hungry (and so I should be as I've eaten very little the last few days) for a delicious burger with some melted cheese and chutney on multigrain bread! This one is for all you Kangaroo lovers... Not that there are many LOL

Mix together some kangaroo mince, tomato chutney, dried Italian herbs, Parmesan cheese, an egg and some homemade breadcrumbs. Heat a pan and spray with cooking spray. Cook until golden on each side and cooked through. Pop it into some bread with low fat tasty cheese and tomato chutney and them into the sandwich toaster.

Demolish! :-)

Semi-Dried Roma Tomatoes With Fresh Herbs In Virgin Olive Oil

Semi-Dried Roma Tomatoes With Fresh Herbs In Virgin Olive Oil.....

I'm new to Dehydrators and loaned my Mum's initially to dry some Sugar Flowers for a wedding cake. I bought some cheap Roma Tomatoes and decided to give making sundried tomatoes a go. Great for summer salads and home made vingarettes and salad dressing.

 Also great in a nice jar to give as gifts.

I've sliced the Tomatoes approx 1cm thick, seasoned with some himilyan salt and dried Italian Herbs. A lot of recipes I have seen have said to take out the seeds but that is a mission and I think leaving the seeds in will give a much nicer flavour even though they take a little longer to dry. They took approx 10 hours to dry . I've made some semi dried (approx 3/4 dry) Added them to sterilised jars and layed them with fresh basil, oregano and thyme from my garden and some mashed galic cloves. Topped them up with Cobram Estate Virgin Olive Oil and sealed. The others I have dried completely and popped into an air tight container. I can use these later and rehydrate in a nice vinegar with mustard seeds and herbs to make a lower fat version. Very happy with the way they have turned out!

Lj's Fried Chicken..

Here is last night's dinner! Keep in mind this is a "sometimes" meal! Man of the house loved it and Mini Me will be spewing she wasn't here for it... NOM NOM NOM!

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Lj's Chicken, Bacon & Spinach Canneloni

Chicken, Bacon & Spinach Canelloni...

Ingredients:

400g Chicken Breast finely diced
3 Rashers of Bacon finely diced
1 White Onion finely diced
2 Cloves of Garlic crushed
250g Finely chopped frozen Spinach
1/3 Cup White Wine (I used Sauv Blanc)
Low fat grated Cheese
Basic White Sauce.. recipe below

In a hot frypan, saute the chicken, bacon, onion and garlic for a few minutes until the chicken is browned off. Add the defrosted frozen spinach and mix to combine. Add the white wine and simmer until the wine has reduced.

Make the white sauce with Parmesan:

Basic White Sauce with Parmesan:

2 Tbs Butter ( I used Nutalex)
2 Tbs Plain Flour
350 ml Skim Milk
Cracked Pepper and Sea Salt

In the microwave melt the butter, then add the flour and combine  Cook off the butter and flour for one minute. Add the milk and whisk, cook in one minute spurts whisking in between until the sauce is thick. Add the Parmesan Sea Salt and cracked pepper and mix.

Add 1/3 of the white sauce to the chicken mixture and combine. Roll the mixture into fresh pasta sheets to make canelloni rolls. Place in a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray and top with the remaining white sauce. Top with some low fat grated tasty cheese and bake in a 180 degree oven for 45 minutes or until tha pasta is cooked and it loks golden. I'm serving with some homemade garlic bread. Nom Nom Nom

Italian Style Lamb Shanks

Italian Style Lamb Shanks

Italian Style Lamb Shanks in the Slow Cooker with whole baby potatoes and carrot, sweet potato and mushrooms, enough Study and Work for one day. This delicious marinade is a pressie from my Local Butcher. Time for some Melon Madness and Lemonade. 

Golden Pecan Banana Bread

I've adapted this Recipe from a Recipe of 4 Ingredients.  Here is the link to the original recipe.
http://www.4ingredients.com.au/recipe/banana-bread

Golden Pecan Banana Bread

Ingredients:

2 Large Ripe Banana's

1/2 Cup Equal 

1 Cup Low Fat Mayonnaise

2 Cups Self Raising Flour

100 G Chopped Pecans

2 Tbs Golden Syrup

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees. Line a loaf tin with Baking Paper. Add the Banana's to a bowl and mash. Stir in  the Sugar and then the Mayo and Golden Syrup. Add the SR Flour and the Pecans. Mix  until combined and pour into your lined tin. Bake until golden and a skewer comes out of the center clean. App 50 Minutes. Let it sit for a few minutes and then transfer from the tin to a cooling rack. 

I'm amazed at how this turned out. Delicious!

Wholemeal Banana & Choc Chip Muffins

Making a few healthy but still tasty Recipe modifications lately. Here is my latest.

Wholemeal Banana & Choc Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups of Wholemeal Plain Flour

1/2 Cup Equal 

1 Cup Skim Milk Lactose Free Milk

1/3 Cup Vegetable Oil

2 Free Range Eggs

1 Large overripe Banana Mashed

3/4 Cup Choc Chips

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 180 Degrees. Sift the flour in  a large bowl and add the sugar. Combine with a wooden spoon. In a jug, pour the milk and the oil, then add the eggs. Whisk to combine. Add the milk mix and the banana to the dry ingredients. Mix until combined and add the choc chips. Gently mix though the choc chips. Spoon into muffin pan lined with baking paper cases. Fill each one 3/4 full and  and bake for 15 - 20 Minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Place on a rack to cool.

Lj's Chicken Pappardelle Carbonara

Whilst out shopping today I found some delicious Rosemary Pancetta and decided to make a Chicken Pappardelle Carbonara for my lovely Sissy tonight. I have used as much local product as I can... substitute the ingredients to suit yourself...

Ingredients:

2 Tbs Cobram Estate Olive Oil
2 Tbs Nuttalex (You can substitute with butter)
100g Rosemary Pancetta
500g Free Range Chicken Breast finely diced
8 Button Mushrooms finely sliced
2 Cloves of fresh Garlic finely chopped
1/4 Cup Sauv Blanc
1/2 Teas freshly Ground Black Pepper
2 Free Range Eggs
1/2 Cup Parmigiano Reggiano
1/2 Teas Murray River Salt Flakes
2 Tablespoons of chopped Flat Leaf Parsley
500g Fresh Pappardelle pasta or any fresh pasta of choice

What to do:

Heat a large saucepan of water and bring to the boil, add salt flakes. Heat a pan and add the olive oil and nuttalex. Add the garlic to infuse the flavour through the oil and butter. Add the pancetta and the mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms are soft.

Add the chicken and wine and stir through. Cook for a few minutes until the ckicken is just cooked and tender and the wine has reduced by half.  Set aside and keep warm.  Add the fresh pasta to the boiling water and cook until aldente.. approx 12 minutes. In the meantime whisk the eggs and the Parmigiano. Drain the pasta and add the eggs and Parmigiano. Mix well really quickly so that the eggs don't scramble. Add the Chicken etc and chopped parsley. Serve immediately and top with grated Parmigiano on top.

Easy Yo Yo Biscuits

Cream 185g Softened Butter with 1/3 Cup of sifted Icing Sugar. Sift together 1/3 Cup of Custard Powder and 1 1/2 Cups of Plain Flour. Add to the Butter and Icing Sugar to form a dough. Roll into balls and press with a fork. Bake for 15 Minutes.

Homemade Strawberry Jam... YUM

Thought I would take advantage of cheap Strawberries and make some Jam.

I didn't measure but it's about 1kg berries to 6 cups of sugar and 1 1/2 teas citric acid. I use a non stick saucepan. Mash the strawberries with a fork, add the sugar and stir in thoroughly. Bring to the boil until the sugar is almost dissolved, add the Citric acid and boil until setting point (105 degrees) remove the skum from the top and pour into hot sterilized jars

Rice Salad... With the warmer weather upon us it's time to start making some Salads!

Tested a new Rice Salad Recipe... Delicious!

Ingredients:

1 cup Jasmine Rice

1 can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 Red capsicum, diced

1/2 Red onion finely diced

1/3 cup Sultanas

2 Tbs sliced almonds, toasted

2 Chopped Shallots

Dressing:

3 Tbs fresh lime juice

2 Teas Honey

3 Tbs Extra-virgin olive oil

2 Teas curry powder

Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper to taste

Cook the Jasmine rice in the microwave with 2 1/2 Cups of boiling water for approx 12 minutes or until tender. Let it cool completely. Combine rice, Chickpeas, Capsicum, Red onion, Almond flakes and Sultanas in a large bowl. Stir gently to combine all of the ingredients.

Whisk together lime juice, honey, olive oil, curry powder, salt and pepper. Pour over rice mixture and combine. Best left in the fridge for a bit for all the flavours to infuse.

Slow Cooked Lamb Chops

Omg so good! Slow cooked Lamb Chops Potato/Kumara mash and veges.. Yum yum yum 

Flour the chops and cook in a splash of olive oil with chopped onion and garlic. Add beef stock, tomato paste, sea salt and cracked pepper and Italian herbs. Slow cook for about 2 1/2 hours on high, the sauce will thicken and the meat will fall off the bone and be melt in your mouth. :-)

Lamb & Vege Cottage Pies

Waste not want not I say! I'm mixing up a brew of left over roast lamb and veg, going to make a pie with pastry on the bottom, lamb and veg filling and mash on top!

Blind bake some pastry cases.. I made these in Mexican sized Muffin Tins

Let the cases cool and add your pie filling, top with mashed potato and grated cheese

Bake until Golden! These pies are great with any filling. Especially delicious with left over

Corn Meat mixed with Cheesy white Sauce!

Man of the House's Chicken Wellington

Man of the house cooked this little number a few nights ago. Nice job Master Chef! It was delicious! Chicken breast with garlic, cheese and herbs wrapped in delicious smoked ham and then encased in pastry! Yum yum yum!

Pan fry the chicken breast with freshly crushed garlic and herbs of choice, let it cool. 

Place on a long slice of ham (large enough to wrap the chicken in) top with cheese and enclose the chicken with the ham. Wrap in pasty and seal with egg wash. Place in the oven on a tray lined with baking paper. Glaze with egg wash and bake at 200 degrees until the pastry is golden. Serve with your fave roast veges and greens.

Italian flavoured Roasted Chicken legs with Onion, Garlic & Mushroom Gravy

Very Quick and easy dinner tonight. Place Diced Onion, sliced Mushrooms and finely diced garlic on a deep baking tray. Cut slits in the chicken and stuff with sliced garlic. Pat the chicken skin with paper towel to make it really dry, makes really crispy skin when roasted. Place the chicken on top of the onions etc. Sprinkle with Dried Italian Herbs and Chicken Vegetta Stock Powder and roast until golden and cooked through. Transfer the chicken to another tray and use make a delicious gravy using the baking tray you have cooked the chicken. Serve with roast spuds and carrots and steamed corn on the cob.

Delicious Homemade Chicken Stock

In need of some chicken stock so in the pot goes a chicken cage, some carrot, onion, fresh parsley and thyme, cracked pepper and sea salt to simmer for approx 4 - 6 hours then strain.

Kabana and Cheese Puffs

Kabana And Cheese Puffs

Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Plain Flour

1 teas Baking Powder

1/2 Teas Garlic Salt

3/4 Cup low fat Milk

1 Free Range Egg

1 Kabana finely diced

1 Cup grated Light tasty Cheese

Parmesan to sprinkle on top

What to do:

Make a batter by whisking the flour, baking powder, garlic salt, milk and egg.

Mix in the kabana and cheese. (You could use ham or cooked sausage or bacon instead of

 the kabana if you wanted to.) Let the batter sit for 10 mins and pop into a greased 24 cup mini muffin tin. Bake in a preheated 180 degree oven for approx 20 mins or until golden. 

Delicious served with a pizza style dipping sauce.

Lj's Quick & Easy Roasted Vege and Parmesan Slice

Hungry and in a hurry?? Throw together this delicious vegetarian slice. You can add ham or bacon if you wish to.

Ingredients:

8 Free Range Eggs
1/4 Cup Skim Milk
1/2 Red Capsicum diced
2 Shallots finely sliced
8 - 10 Cherry tomatoes sliced in quarters
1 Cup of each Pumpkin & Sweet Potato roasted
1/4 cup Parmesan
2 Tbs Plain Flour

What to do:

Whisk the eggs, milk and flour and set aside. Dice the pumpkin and sweet potato into small pieces and roast in the oven at 180 until gliden and tender. Place them into the bottom
of a lined slice tin. Sprinkle with the shallots and capsicum then the Parmesan and cherry tomatoes. Bake at 180 for 25 mins or until set and golden on top. Cut into slices and serve warm. Yum yum.

Creamy Chicken, Bacon and Corn Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

2 Free range Chicken Breasts finely diced
4 Shallots finely chopped
6 Rashers of Bacon Diced
1 Ltr Chicken Stock
300ml Light Sour Cream
2 x Tins of Creamed Corn
Soup noodles.. How ever many you like

What to do..

Sauté the Onion, Bacon, Chicken and shallots. Add the Creamed Corn and Chicken Stock. Cooking a low summer until the chicken is cooked and soft. Add the noodles and cook until soft. Add the sour cream before serving. If you don't like noodles, leave them out and serve with homemade croutons.