it started with a craving for mushroom fettucini

Posted on by bekswhoknits

And ended with a fantastico meal…
The most difficult thing was frying all the components.
First into my pan went butter… mmm butter…
with a little garlic olive oil because that stops it burning according to all the cooking shows i watch.
then 2 cloves of garlic, a finely chopped onion, and some finely chopped celery.
That fried (sauteed?) until it went translucent.

Then i added some chicken thigh which i had sliced into strips. The strips was to try and make it noticeable, rather than dicing it and everything kind of mixing in together.
I let the chicken really brown up, and then added some chopped bacon. In hindsight (which is 20:20) it probably didn’t need the bacon, but my boy would probably disagree. He got very excited when he got home from work and i was cutting up a kilo of bacon (most of the kilo went in the freezer, not in the pasta sauce!)
After the bacon was cooked, i added some mushrooms and diced capsicum, and fried that off a bit.
I mixed that all around to combine it, in order to fry it all i kept pushing the individual components to one side until i had to sides left.
I splashed it with white wine, i don’t know much about wine so i confess i just used what i had, i don’t know if it’s what i ‘should’ have been using.
And once the white wine has reduced i added 2 packets of long life cream. I’m never prepared enough to have fresh cream.
And then i let it bubble away until the liquid to solid ratio looked like it would stick to pasta with just that little bit left over. And added some salt and pepper of course.
When that looked just about good i cooked the pasta (a fresh pasta packet, because i had a craving for fresh pasta like my mum sometimes makes)
And i made an improvised garlic bread from a ciabatta roll, which i buttered (shock!) and spread garlic paste over, then straight in the sandwich press.

And it was good…
if i do say so myself…

comfort food

Posted on by bekswhoknits

Zucchini slice is my number 2 comfort food.
(mashed potato is number 1 – lasagne number 3)

Largely because of how easy it is to make. You just plonk all the ingredients into a bowl, mix, pour into lasagne dish, put it in the oven, and wait (or in my case knit).
The ingredients:
1 grated zucchini (don’t bother peeling it)
1 cup grated cheese
1 chopped onion
3 rashers bacon chopped
5 eggs
1 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup oil
dash wooshter sauce
parsley, salt, & pepper to taste…

thanks Women’s Weekly…

it’s one of those recipes that my mum used to make all the time – which is probably why it’s so comforting.
and it’s one of the only ways that my boy will eat zucchini – mostly because of the bacon and the cheese.
but it’s really good, really easy, and really comforting.
and can be eaten hot out of the oven, or cold for work lunches.

Last night it was great because i didn’t feel like cooking, and i had a zucchini all ready in the fridge.

steak with mushroom sauce

Posted on by bekswhoknits

so, as it turns out, i make a really good mushroom sauce.
Well i can follow a good recipe for mushroom sauce.

My boy cooked the steaks (he’s really good at cooking steak) and some more mushrooms on the barbeque, and i made the sauce and a quick salad.

One of the best meals i’ve eaten all week.

Strawberries do belong in salads

Posted on by bekswhoknits

Well this salad is to die for…
Another taste.com.au recipe (ever reliable) and i was a sceptic but am now convinced.
Strawberries DO belong in salads.

who would have thought combining strawberries, spinach, feta, balsamic vinegar, and a little olive oil would taste sooo good.

And some home made pork and fennel sausage rolls (snausage rolls) for good measure.
that one is straight from the recipe book

happy lunch time!!

potato smash

Posted on by bekswhoknits

Friday night. Nothing much in the house. Can’t be bothered going shopping. Just want to curl up with some comfort food and a comfort book.
mashed potato can be a meal right?? right??

yeh.. .

particularly with the amount of stuff that i can put in.
Continue reading potato smash

trio of salads

Posted on by bekswhoknits

well i hopped on my wii-fit for the first time in a long time last night…
wow…
definitely put on more weight over christmas than i expected (i knew my clothes were a little snug).
so my goal for the month is so get on the wii-fit everyday, drink less alcohol, and eat more fresh food.

so to start me on my way i made a trio of salads.
Continue reading trio of salads

i’m not sure much else could go wrong…

Posted on by bekswhoknits

seriously… what is with tonight…
actually it all started with the first plumber on Saturday night who couldn’t do anything.
well that and the fact that i had to call a plumber because my bathroom was flooded.

and another plumber on Sunday who couldn’t do anything – so i spent two hours away from work (which today was glorified track-tagging and frickin boring as) this morning waiting for the plumbers to do whatever it is they needed to do, which apparently they did. But they didn’t turn my gas back on!!

So i got home from work late (because i’m making up the time i took off this morning), i’m tired (because the plumber didn’t show up last night until 10:00), and i’m feeling frustrated because…
i don’t have any gas, which is my hot water system, my oven, and stove top…
No hot water to mop my floor with (which looks like 3 plumbers have been trekking water through – and my brand new steam mop doesn’t work), no hot water for a shower (as i haven’t showered since the plumbing issues started on Saturday night – ickky!), and for some reason the bbq is covered in ants (which is not my domain – i’m pretty sure bug spray isn’t going to work and i have had enough!)

so the schnitzel went in the sandwich press.
which worked really well.
and it was delicious.
with a spinach, feta, and beetroot salad.

it hit the spot.

i still have no gas, am still stinky, and have covered part of the floor with a mat.
but i am well fed, some bad tv to watch, and some knitting to relax me.

and hopefully an early night…
zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
ahh… mondays…

look at the pretty pink beetroot

and a picture of a cloudy city on the drive into work this morning

all-in pasta salad

Posted on by bekswhoknits

Now that the weather’s getting hotter, it’s turning into beer garden and salad weather. But on a week day night the beer garden is a little more tricky, but the salads aren’t.

This was my version of all-in pasta salad.
It’s all-in because it’s pretty much using up everything I had in my cupboards the day before going food shopping.
But to its credit it turned out beautifully. (if I was to use this ‘recipe’ again, the only thing I would do differently is have some spinach leaves on hand – that would just add something even better)
Continue reading all-in pasta salad

merry christmas, happy new year, and all thatjazz…

Posted on by bekswhoknits

Happy new year oh faithful blog.

And what a way to start the year.
Southbound festival was magnificent. And 2 days of caravan park camping before that with my boyfriend and my best friend (and boyfriends brother but he’s pretty ok) were pretty awesome too.
Now I’m giving my liver a bit of a rest.

I have no new years resolutions because I don’t believe in them. I just fully intend to write more, take more pictures, and get more sunshine.
Continue reading merry christmas, happy new year, and all thatjazz…

lasagne and crap telly

Posted on by bekswhoknits

that was pretty much last night.
there was absolutely nothing on telly at all.
and because i didn’t know what time J was coming round i cooked up a lasagne, it’s something that keeps really well, it doesn’t matter when it goes into the oven and if he ended up not coming round i have more for myself.
but he did end up coming round, and watching some crap telly.
seriously i don’t know what’s with television at the moment, i know its non ratings season but seriously. we ended up watching the heat/jazz game, a bit of curling (yes it was that bad) and some repeats of sitcoms that we’d seen before.
but the lasagne was good

my mince sauce
first, put a chopped onion, a couple of sticks of celery (also chopped), and grated carrot in a pan with some oil and garlic. put the lid on and wait for it to smell good
then add the mince and let that brown up nice and good
add some red wine and some bbq sauce let that evaporate
add a tin of kidney beans and a tin of chopped tomatos
some chicken stock (from a box works) a bit of wooshter sauce herbs etc depending on what tasted good
some already chopped mushrooms (cos i’m lazy)
sometimes i’ll put spinach in as well but i put it as a side garnish instead

the cheese sauce
i tried something different – instead of making a roux, i went the cornflour route – just milk, cornflour, mustard powder, and cheese…
lots of cheese.

layered and topped with more cheese and fresh parsley…
delicious!