Donna's one pot pan puff cake!!!!!

OMG this is the most dramatic thing to watch cook, we all love to watch the amazing growing of the puff cake..... this is the perfect Saturday night dessert, a fun easy breaky, or for me the mummy loves you after a shitty day at sport tummy warmer......

Now let me preface to say that today has been tough in this house hold but not tough enough that we cannot all snuggle, cook, eat, and love on each other that the world can be a better place.... seriously it works like magic!!!!

what you need:

 a non-stick fry pan that can go into the oven... I have a kitchen aide brand ones and they are possibly the bestest pans ever and not that expensive... its stock take time people go shopping...I got mine at David Jones this time of year... cheap as chips!I know you can get them at matchbox kitchenware shops too, but seriously just go SHOPPING!!!! (Mel and Nat you need to check the handle can go into the oven!!! xx)

ok onto the other serious stuff like ingredients....

1/2 cup plain four
2 eggs
tbs vanilla extract (you could use essence but seriously DO NOT...... extract is the way to go for everything!!!!)
2 TBS caster sugar
1/2 cup of milk
30g butter

seriously this is sooooo easy!!!!

heat your oven to 180, putting your fry pan in the oven to warm...

while that is warming up in a small bowl place all ingredients except the butter and whisk together to a smooth batter.

remove the pan from oven... place  a tea towel over the handle and leave there.... (seriously I know that most people would think of that but I know a couple of readers personally and seriously they need this tip in bold!!! love you xx)

place butter in pan and coat the pan in the butter (use real butter Lurpak is a fav of mine....)

pour the batter in the pan and place the pan into the oven...

Now watch the magic... seriously very cool.....

after 25 minutes,,,, remove from the oven....

slip out onto a board and serve with berries, ice cream, maple syrup what ever takes your fancy.... it seriously is like a Yorkshire pud.,.... but sweet divine goodness... a perfect late night snack too.....

no berries here today, but maple syrup and Maggie Beers vanilla bean and elderflower ice cream was YUM YUM YUM!!!!
honestly try it....

happy cooking

Leonie xx

pizza scrolls for hungry cold bodies!

I have to confess I have not made these for yonks! yep you read that right YONKS!!! When I was a tired mum of 2 little people bored with the everyday sandwhich choice of peanut butter, vegemite or jam I would make these... I really think they were one of the first things I cooked with the boys. They were eaten and loved by us all.... now the fillings can vary of course sometimes because of a 'compulsory Pj day' the filling would simply be pizza sauce and cheese, or at times it could be left over roast veges... particularly capsicum, zucchini and egplant YUM... but in all honesty the usual 'go to' toppings are good old ham and pineapple... you just can't beat it. seriously....


Now the weather here is miserable today, overcast, rainy, and not to forget bloody FREEZING!!!! so I thought these would make the perfect tummy warmers for a post freezing footy match.,.... and I was RIGHT... they have gone down a treat!


Now for the recipe I guess...

2 cups Self raising flour
40g butter ( I had not taken mine out of the fridge so I grate it so I can use it right away!!)
3/4 cup milk

rub the butter into flour tile you get bread crumb like consistency, add milk and combine, remove from bowl and knead on a floured bench topuntil smooth and elastic.... not too much! the roll dough until about 2cm thick... try with all your might to get a rectangle, I am a complete failure with this so I just go with whatever happens!
 squirt pizza topping on top of base spread liberally with the back of a spoon... the more the better for us, top with ingredients.

Starting with one side roll your pizza up, you will find some falls out.. my kids like to eat these bits at the end! now once you have a nice firm roll, slice it into 1.5 cm slices and place on baking paper in baking dish. Smoosh them all together as tightly as you can and bake in an oven at 180 for 1/2 hour....

I promise you will not be disappointed!Neither will the little or big people in your life!

Happy cooking

Leonie xx

The perfect Sunday roast CHOOK!!!! seriously just flippin perfect!

Now this chicken has been around for a long time... I think many of my friends have eaten it... its good, safe, and never ever fails to inpress! it is divine!!!!

Seriously lok bloody good hey!

Now the ingredients are easy to find, it cooks on low in a slow oven 150.... for up to 3 hours.... its a one pot pleaser!

ingredients:
One free range chook
half dozen french eshallots
2 heads garlic cut in half
thyme, rosemary, any herbs you have!
1 lemon, rind removed and cut in half
salt and pepper
10 small potatoes, halved
olive oil
chicken stock and a 1/4 cup white wine.... (seriously there is a theme here... wine, cooking and me!!!)

place a good cast iron pot (you will need a roaster with a lid, you could bung it all in a casserole dish lid on if thats all you have), place eshallots and garlic around base of the pan. Add the clean and dried chook, up the chooks butt place half head of garlic, the lemon halves and half the bunch of herbs. Place the chook in the middle of garlic and shallots. place the potatoes around chook. pour wine and stock around and over potatoes. grind salt and pepper over the chook and drizzle with a little olive oil, pop the lid on and bake for 1 1/2 hours, then remove lid and bake for a futher 45 mins....Now I somethimes start the cooking on the stove top, heating the pan add the ingredients then bunging into the oven.... but depends on my mood and time restraints.

This chook smells divine after about 1/2 hour and takes a great amount of will power to resist until the end of time.....

Once the chook is done, remove and rest, at this time I also remove the veges. I squash the garlic out of their skins and place on a medium heat and reduce the liquid down to make a saucy gravy that I honestly could dive into and drink!!!OMG!!! the roasted garlic would have to be one of my favs!

so any way there you have it my super YUM and super easy and impressive roast chook!!!

happy cooking

Leonie xx

best potato and leek soup EVER!!!

Oh my I have never made this soup which is odd as potatoes are my absolute favourite food group, you know fried, boiled mashed... you get it... surely I am not alone in this love affair... Well over the last few years we have eaten less and less of these divine little beauties... but today I seemed to have an abundance of them, some lovely leeks, onions, garlic.... well it called for SOUP... oh the chilly season also helped.

now this was super easy and super super yum....

2 cloves garlic
knob butter
2 leeks, sliced in half length ways the chopped
6-10 potatoes...(I had a few and they were not very big, the were washed and skins stayed on) chopped roughly
whole nutmeg ( use a microplane or super fine grater to grate)
500ml chicken stock
2 onions, diced

Melt butter in big saucepan, fry garlic, leeks, onions until softened, add potatoes and stock, and nutmeg bring to the boil then turn down to a gentle simmer, once all cooked, about 20 mins, blend like a crazy lady with your stick blender and enjoy!!!!!

Oh to make this even more delicious, a cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese after blending makes this TO DIE FOR!!!!!

I will add pictures later..... its a school night and I am tired!

happy cooking

Leonie xx

One pot cheats roast chicken.....

Now I am busy, we are all busy, and feeding growing boys is difficult this much I know.... keeping everyone's taste buds happy is just as hard (I am the worst to please). I am always after that something different... you know it reaches to the front, sides and back of the palate, keeps it all happy.....

well, I spend, as most that know me well, way TOO much time in recipe books, online looking at food and recipes and on god forbid I say it out loud Facebook!!!! well in my 'spare' time I have found some wonderful blogs that I read for so many different reasons, I rarely comment, I rarely can think of witty things to say, some of these people make me look like a saint that swears very very little!!! but hey those reading that know me too well, a truckie and I have way more in common that just taste in bad driving music!!!!

well on my prowl of the internet I have stumbled upon one of the prettiest houses oh I mean blogs.... Sarah, I also love the ever funny beth . These ladies cook like me, so its only fair that the originality of the following recipe goes to sarah.....

Now for this recipe I have sourced one of my favourite pots... now I love cookware that should be NO secret and I have tonnes but I just have never had the cash to buy the real deal stuff, so when I happened to be shoppping in  a chain store last year and stumbled upon a copy of a pan I had been drooling over for less that half the price I snatched that baby up!!! I had just bought the big kahuna in red (oh baby its the real deal!!)... so anyway this pot is used 6 out of 7 nights I kid you not!!!! if you get your hands on this you will never look back!! I can only imagine what the real kahuna would be like....ahhhhhh dreaming of my happy place  with a variety of colours at my very finger tips..... (have to admit this online store is a saved favourite in my browser....click here to see.

Here is my baby.... I bought it here, love the new latte colour.... and of course the RED!

Now as for the recipe...hmmmm thats the whole point of the blog....

now this looks as easy as it is...honestly a roast on the table 50 minutes after getting home from work!!! I dice/chop may be more accurate any veges I have, here I have used potatoes, pumpkin and sweet potato, red onions, garlic, corn, and zucchini.

First step is to add the onion, garlic, and root veges to the pan splash with a good lug (but not too much) olive oil and bake for 30 mins in a hot oven (200c), when the timer goes off

seriously just wanted to show off my cool timer..... hmmmm may just collect them all!!!

take out of the oven and bury the chicken thighs into the veges, add some fresh thyme sprigs, and the 'softer veges' eg zucchini, corn etc.... I add1/2 cup of chicken stock as well, just helps with the moisture and sauce at the end... (if I am drinking a glass of wine or a bottle is open I will also splash some in at this stage also) put it all back into the oven for a further 20 mins or until everything is cooked...

seriously thats it,..... I remove the chicken and veges and plate up then over a medium heat I put the pan on and reduce the sauce to a gravy, pour some on the top and EAT!!!

seriously never a complaint and it never tastes the same..... and there are NEVER left overs!

Ps. I use at least half a head of garlic

pps... seriously love that I wrote 'if' I drink wine!!!! hahahahhaa of course I AM drinking wine!!!!

happy cooking xx

Leonie's attempt at eggplant parmigiana

For those that don't know, I am a teacher, I teach children with special needs, I LOVE  my job, it is rewarding, tough, fun, challenging, and at times very painful, physically and mentally. I have been at this job for a long time now, teaching children of such a diverse range of needs, I really love it... seriously I do.... even if I whinge!!!!

Now at the end of a a really tough first term this year, now this is a term where it saw my family move interstate, start new schools and jobs, me move from part-time to fulltime so LOTS of changes........I was EXHAUSTED!!!!

Well to reward myself I travelled to an old stomping ground the Capital of the country.... Canberra a much loved destination.... I met with fabulous friends, drank many, many cocktails, eating wonderful meals and giggling until I cried.... an absolute blast! A weekend of pure mummy indulgence! Well, while in the countries capital we ventured to an exccellent Italian resturant, "Italian and sons", we ate and ate and ate some more, it was fabulous! oh not to mention wonderful champagne and wine!!!

While we were there we shared some wonderful dishes... one of them being eggplant parmigiana..... OMG it was to DIE for! seriously sooooooo good! so I knew in an instant my family were going to be my guinea pigs while I perfected this recipe.... now below is a 'good' recipe my boys and I loved it, but it is still missing something, so I have decided to share but may update if I can discover that missing ingredient.... That all said this is an original recipe...... OMG fall over!!!! all MINE!!!!! hope you like and can make sense of it all....

Ingredients
2 400g tins chopped tomatoes
2 red onions finely diced
2 eggplants, sliced 1/2cm thick
5 cloves garlic
1 finely dice red capsicum
250g ricotta cheese
1 tub mozzarella sliced (if you cannot get a hold of mozzarella 1 tub of bocconcini works just the same)
2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 freshly grated nutmeg
fresh basil
1/2 cup red wine

prepare all vegetables, in a thick based pan, I love my LeChasseur red cast iron pot.... I use it at all opportunities!!! splash some olive oil and heat pan, sweat off garlic, capsicum, and onion, until soft, add paste and cook off for 1-2 minutes, add red wine and cook for one minute to cook out alcohol. Add the tomatoes and nutmeg and turn down to a low simmer and leave for about an hour, the sauce will thicken and send a divine smell throughout your house! I promise it smells fantastic!!! now while this is cooking you need to sprinkle each peice of eggplant with salt (not too much!!!!) I then place in a colander put a plate on top to cover then weigh down to extract the water from eggplant.

Leave eggplant for at least 1/2hour. Once suace is thicker, sprinkle with some fresh basil thinly sliced, rince and dry eggplant between paper towels.

Its time to start layering....... start with tomato sauce, eggplant, ricotta, mozzarella then repeat until the dish is full, finishing with tomato and grated parmesan cheese. Bake in an oven at 180 for half an hour, I served it with salad..... Honest to goodness this did turn out great! kids and Hubby loved it and no one knew it was a vege meal!!! SO I challenge all to a Meat free Meal once per week..... ours is generally Mondays!!!

happy cooking xx

the never fail Frittata.....

now this is NOT rocket science, this recipe is for my less that adventurous family and  friends, you know who you are!!!!

Now the frttata is simply a backed egg pie, well I think so anyway.... its easy and tends to use up all those left overs.... flavours can be what ever you like, seriously its that simple....the list of what can be used is endless and only limited by your pantrym fridge and imagination.... a frittat makes the perfect low fat, filly food to take to work, in our house its the perfect sunday night dinner after a bust weekend served with warm, crusty sour dough! Now I have  non-egg eater in my house, he does NOT like egg, but LOVES frittata - go figure... (now if you have met this said person you will know exactly who I am talking about.... seriously the apple did not fall far from the tree!!!)

now I suppose I should get started on the how to business of this recipe.....

6 eggs
1 tub of philly cheese cooking cream now i use the 60% less fat....
1/2 cup of grated cheese ( I tend to use a mixture of cheeses, parmesan, tasty cheddar, red Leicester or anything you have on hand..... seriously left over Brie would be fantastic but there is never any left over if I am around!)
cracked pepper.....

now for the flavourings, this particular frittata I used

diced pancetta

 grated zucchini

chopped flat leaf parsely

red onion

heat  anon stick frypan drizzled with a little oil,

fry pancetta, onion until soft

while that is frying, wisk your eggs and cream until they are smooth

add all other ingredients to fypan and fry for around 4-5 minutes....

once ingredients are softened add egg mixture, allow egg to cook for around 5 minutes until you can see it setting around the edges.

place under a hot grill and cook until egg is set usually another 5 minutes is all that is needed.

once egg is set turn out onto plate board etc... now this can be a little tricky I simply give my pan a little shake and help with an egg flip and loosen the bottom and slide onto serving plate, alternatively you can invert the frittata onto a plate....



looks yummy hey! its tasted good too..... now served with a salad this is a great lunch, some toast and its a great sunday night dinner, served on its own great work lunch......

have a play with it and see what tastes you like.... I just use the egg cheese and cream ratio as the rule of thumb and go from there....

happy cooking!