Anzac Muffins

My Mr14 came home sick on Monday, severe hayfever.  Poor guy looked really shattered, so I thought I would bake him something he loves, while still trying out a new to me recipe.  I intended to bake him some Anzac Biscuits but came across this recipe for Anzac Muffins which I hadn't tried out before.  Well going by the fact that out of 12 muffins, I now have none left and I had kids asking where their muffin was this morning after I had packed their lunch box, I guess you can safely assume that they really liked them.  I didn't even get to try one myself, but I did sample a crumb and they tasted very ANZAC-y lol.

So here is the recipe,,,,,I may well have to bake another batch just to try these lol.

ANZAC MUFFINS

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

3/4 cup Warm Milk

50 grams Butter, melted

2 tablespoons Golden Syrup

2/3 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Dessicated Coconut

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

1/2 cup Rolled Oats

1 Egg

2 cups Plain Flour

Dissolve the Baking Soda in the Milk and then add the melted butter, golden syrup and brown sugar.

Mix well.

Add remaining ingredients, stir until just combined.

Three quarters fill each hole in a well greased muffin pan and bake at 190 degrees Celcius for 15-20 minutes.

I think these would be rather nice with a dollop of thickened cream next to them,,,,maybe I will get to try this myself next time lol.

Asian Style Chicken and Pasta Salad

OMG!!!  This dish is absolutely to die for!!

This was a first time try at this recipe last night and I just have to say that I can't wait until it is lunchtime so that I can have some more lol.   I haven't tried any with the kids yet (we were child free for a couple of hours last night) so I don't know their verdict but I have a feeling they may even like this too!!

If there is one recipe on this blog that you try, make it this one, I am sure you will agree it is totally YUMMY!!!  Of course, the best part of it being a salad you can always add in extra salad ingredients, we added in a little cabbage as well.

ASIAN CHICKEN AND PASTA SALAD

1 cup Coconut Cream

3 tablespoons Kecap Manis

Juice of 2 Limes

2 Garlic Cloves, crushed

2 Chillies, finely sliced (I just used 2 tablespoons of Chilli Sauce)

1 tablespoon freshly grated Ginger

2 tablespoons freshly chopped Coriander

4 skinless Chicken Breasts, sliced into strips

2 cups uncooked Pasta Spirals

8 Snowpeas, sliced

1-2 Carrots, sliced julienne style

Handful of Bean Shoots

12 Cherry Tomatoes, quartered

Large Handful of Wild Rocket

1/2 Avocado, chopped

Whisk up the Coconut Cream, Kecap Manis, Lime Juice, Garlic, Chilli Sauce, Ginger and Coriander to form a marinade.

Pour 2/3rd of the marinade over the chicken, reserving the rest of the marinade to be used as a dressing.

Gently mix through to ensure all the chicken is covered, cover the bowl and place in fridge for 2-3 hours.

When ready to cook, boil the pasta until tender.

Pan fry the chicken in a non stick pan, adding the marinade a little at a time as the chicken cooks.  Be careful not to burn the chicken!

Blanch the snowpeas, carrots and bean shoots (and cabbage if you added some :-)   )  Drain well.

Place the Tomatoes, Rocket and Avocado in a large bowl and toss with the cooked vegetables.  Add the pasta and toss through.

Serve onto your serving plates, placing the chicken pieces on top.

Dress with a drizzle of the reserved marinade.

Enjoy!!!

This recipe easily serves 4 adults as a main course.

Chocolate Mousse

Okay now I know there aren't many people around who haven't at some point in their life at least, loved Chocolate Mousse.  I think all kids (well all kids except my little Buddha lol) adore Chocky Mousse.  I have never been one to make it, don't ask me why.  My kids only ever got it when we went out (I know, does that rate me for a "Bad Mother Award??? lol).  But not while going through my treasure trove of recipes, I discovered a fast and easy recipe that was definitely worth a try.  Boy oh boy, am I glad that I gave it a try!!

This Chocolate Mousse is just divine.  It is so creamy and chocolatey it is just simply yummy!  It takes only minutes to prepare and I am sure most chocolate lovers will enjoy this dessert.  I don't have fancy glasses to dish mine up in, I so wish I did but, hey, the kids don't care how it looks!!

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

2 cups Chocolate Chips

2 cups Thickened Cream

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of Vanilla

Whipped cream to decorate if you wish

Place the Chocolate Chips, Eggs and Vanilla in blender/food processor and chop.

Heat the cream until small bubbles appear around the edge.  *  Do not boil  *

With the blender running, pour in the hot cream.

 Blend until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth (You can leave it a little bit chunkier if you like, my kids like to find little bits of chocolate in it)

Pour into a casserole dish and cover with plastic and chill.

Once chilled beat it with a hand held electric mixer until it thickens to your desired consistency.

Serve with dollops of whipped cream on top (or not lol depending on your taste).

Kettle Corn

Aaah this recipe, I truly could eat a whole batch of this stuff by myself.

I remember the first night I ever tried Kettle Corn.  It was a night that Hubby and I went up to Lobethal to see the Christmas Lights.  Lobethal is a small country town in the Adelaide Hills that each Christmas comes alight with many of it's homes adorned with Christmas lights and boy do they do a fantastic job.  The small and normally quiet town comes alive with people, never ending streams of cars going up and down the streets, the markets open late into the night full of great ideas for last minute gifts.  And this particular year was a little street van selling Kettle Corn.  They had tasters to try and we had to try it.  They said it was Sweet and Salty.  I have to say that didn't appeal to me but once I had a bit I wanted more.  Their Kettle Corn had a Cinnamon taste to it too which completely topped it off.  Sadly I haven't been able to replicate their recipe for it and even more sadly I have never been able to find those same people selling it again.  There are plenty of places selling Kettle Corn these days at various shows and markets throughout Adelaide but none compare to that initial version we had.

I scoured the internet trying many different recipes for the stuff.  Some worked better than others.  Even now that I have found one I do like, I'm certainly not going to puff out my chest and say it is the worlds best or even that I succeed in getting it just right each time I make it.  We have had our failures lol but hey, it certainly isn't an expensive thing to make so it isn't the end of the world if it doesn't work.  Nine times out of ten though this recipe has turned out really nice and I would have to say it is my favourite of all those I have tried.  Sadly I don't know where I got this recipe from.  I had so many little pieces of paper laying around my computer desk for a while with various versions written on them it was just ridiculous.  Thankfully this one was about the 4th one we tried and it was a hit, so we will just stop right here and keep this one as the one we make every week for our Family Movie Nights.  This recipe makes enough for 7 of us to have a dessert sized bowl each (if I made more I would eat too much lol).

KETTLE CORN

1/4 cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 cup Popping Corn

1/2 cup Icing Sugar

1 tablespoon White Sugar

1 tablespoon Brown Sugar

Sprinkle of Salt to taste

Place in a large pot with a lid, the Vegetable Oil.

As the oil begins to get hot, reduce the heat to medium and add the Popping Corn.

As the popping starts, shake the pot every few seconds to ensure as many of the little kernels pop as possible.

When the corn has all popped, remove from heat and add in the Icing Sugar.

Shake again to coat the corn really well.

Sprinkle on the white and brown sugars

Place back on a low heat for a further minute.

Shake often ensuring that the sugar doesn't all just fall to the bottom of the pot (I usually stir it around with a wood spoon a couple of times to get the sugar mixed through thoroughly).

You need to ensure that the sugar doesn't just burn on the bottom of the pot, hence the continual shaking.

Add Salt at the last minute.  You don't want to drown it, you just want a slight salty taste to it.

Now sit back with a good movie and enjoy the tastiest popcorn in the world :-)

I know it doesn't look like anything special but believe me, you just have to try it!!

Today I'm Smiling,,,,,I should be cooking right now but I'm too busy smiling lol

And what am I happy about you may ask?  I'm happy because my little blog got an invite to be on Petitchef (www.petitchef.com) which is a French based cooking recipe portal with several hundred blogs as members already and also accepted into The Foodie Blogroll :-).  Foodie Blogroll has thousands of members around the world and is a blogroll just for foodie blogs.  I'm so chuffed that my little tiny blog as it is at the moment has been accepted into these two communities.  For this rather new and sporadic blogger these two events were enough to put a smile on the dial for sure!

The only problem is that now I will probably find even more recipes to add to my vast collection lol!!!

I have looked at quite a few of the blogs on both sites...they are amazing, and very well maintained. If you ever need a recipe for ANY dish, I am sure you will find inspiration a-plenty at either of these sites!  I have placed their widgets in my column on the right if you would like to have a browse.

Thanks to Petitchef and The Foodie Blogroll for allowing my blog to hang out with the their group :-)

Pancakes

Fathers Day in our house is usually celebrated with Pancakes for breakfast.  I have been on the lookout for a good pancake recipe since I lost my one that had been my all time favourite (long story don't ask lol).  Anyway I think I may have found one that comes close, its not quite there but it is about the closest I have found so far.

PANCAKES

360 grams Self Raising Flour

Pinch of Salt

90 grams Caster Sugar

3 Eggs

450mls Milk

Sift the Flour, Salt and Sugar together.

Whisk the Milk and Eggs together.

Mix together the Wet and Dry ingredients.

Ladle the mix into a hot frying pan.  I use about 1 ladle per pancake.  When you see bubbles forming, it is time to flip.  Cook until golden.

Serve with Lemon juice and sugar, Jam, Maple Syrup, whatever you like.  These are our favourites but I have on occasion been known to have Vegemite on mine :-)