Chicken and Corn Soup - A Recipe

Don't die of shock!

It's been a very long time since I've posted a recipe on the blog, but I made this soup for dinner lastnight from a mish mash of other recipes and it was really quick and really yummy (even the eldest nephew loved it), so I thought I'd share.

Ingredients

1 x chicken breast fillet
1.5 x cups chicken stock
2 x cups water
1 x 310g tin of corn
0.5 x brown onion
1 x tsp minced garlic
1 x tsp corn flour
2 x eggs

Method

Combine chicken stock and water in a pan and poach the chicken fillet until just cooked through. Then remove from heat.

Take the chicken out of the broth and cut into small bite size pieces.

Take the onion, garlic, and drained corn and blitz it with a stick mixer/ mini food processor.
In a separate pan, add a little olive oil and butter and heat. Add the onion/garlic/corn mix and gently fry off for around five minutes.

Add the onion/garlic/corn mix back into the broth and heat through for a few minutes.

Make a cornflour paste using a little water - add slowly to the broth to thicken very slightly.

Add the cooked chicken back into the broth.

Beat the two eggs together with a fork, and then tip them very slowly from height into the broth, while stirring so that you end up with nice eggy streaks throughout.

Simmer for a few minutes, and then serve with crusty bread.

I added cracked pepper at the end, but didn't need to add any salt.

This one's a keeper!

Think Happy Thoughts - A Recipe for Pumpkin Bread

Last week, I popped into Leonie's on the way home, and picked a beautiful big home grown (in the backyard) pumpkin.

I'm sure everyone is quite well aware of my aversion to anything vegetable, but surprisingly, I actually LIKE pumpkin.

I made Pumpkin Risotto on Sunday night, and then lastnight I made Pumpkin Bread.

I didn't have chilli powder so I added a smoky spice blend, but I really think that it actually needs more spice. You could also delete the chilli powder and add your own blend of spices (think nutmeg, cinnamon etc).

Here's the recipe from Taste.com.au

Preparation Time

10 minutes

Cooking Time

40 minutes

Makes

1 loaf

Ingredients

• Melted butter, to grease
• 300g (2 cups) self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp mild chilli powder
• 450g (1 cup) mashed
• cooked pumpkin
• 125ml (1/2 cup) milk
• 60g butter, melted, cooled
• 2 eggs, lightly whisked
• 2 tbs pepitas (pumpkin seed kernels)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush an 11 x 21cm (base measurement) loaf pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Sift the flour, salt and chilli powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre.
2. Place the pumpkin, milk, butter and egg in a jug, and use a whisk to stir until well combined. Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture, and stir with a large metal spoon until just combined. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Sprinkle evenly with pepitas.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven. Set aside in the pan for 5 minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool

Notes

• You'll need to steam about 500g peeled, deseeded, chopped pumpkin for this recipe. This bread is great for sandwiches and as an accompaniment to a chargrilled lamb salad.

So guess what I'm having for lunch today with slatherings of butter?

Flo's Golden Syrup Dumplings

I was trawling through blogland yesterday evening, and came across Screamtress's post where she just happened to mention Golden Syrup Dumplings.

From that point on, I just couldn't resist, and went in search of a recipe and the ingredients.

Back in my younger years at uni, it was standard fare for dessert in our share house all through winter (being cheap and stodgy to fill us up).

I always check out my Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen recipe book first. If it's something traditional and basic and easy, then the recipe is just about guaranteed to be in here..... and of course, if you have a spill or a stain while you're cooking, then you just flick through to the handy hints in the back to fix it!

Some of the recipes that I've looked at include egg in the dumplings, but these are just flour, butter and milk.

Dumplings

2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Cup Self Raising Flour
1/2 Cup Milk (approximately)

Rub butter into flour, and then add milk a little at a time, mixing to a stiff dough.
Form into balls.

Sauce/Syrup

1 Tablespoon Golden Syrup (I used 2 instead because I love golden syrup)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Water
Juice of 1 Lemon (I didn't have one so I left it out)

Bring water, syrup, sugar and juice to the boil in a saucepan.

Drop the dumplings into the boiling syrup - cook for  10-20 minutes.

I made quite small dumplings so they only took about 10 minutes to cook through. If the boiling syrup is getting too thick, just add some more water.

Then the best bit - place a couple (or 5 if you're me) of dumplings in a bowl, spoon over some syrup, and then add cream or ice-cream, and EAT!

Recipe - Tasty Chicken and Vegie Balls

I love making various different types of meatballs using minced lamb, beef, turkey, or chicken.

They're a great way of incorporating vegies into a meal (for those of use who don't like eating our vegies), and they're also a really inexpensive meal for a family.

These tasty chicken and vegie balls can be served with salad, vegies, or chips, and they're also great to use in spaghetti and meatballs - just boil some pasta and make a simple tomato based sauce to go with it.

Ingredients (makes approximately 30 small balls):

250g chicken mince
1 large carrot
1 red capsicum
1 small zuchini
1 medium onion
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs

Method:

• Put the carrot, capsicum, zuchini and onion through the food processor using the small grater attachment (alternatively just use a hand grater).

• Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl (except for the breadcrumbs) and combine well.

• Add the breadcrumbs and mix well.

• Check the consistency of the mix - you should be able to roll the mix into balls that don't fall apart. You may need to add more breadcrumbs if the mix is too gluggy.

• Roll the mixture into little balls (a great job for the kiddies).

• Shallow fry in some olive oil until cooked through.

• Eat!

Recipe Tag

I've been tagged by the lovely Kat for this recipe tag which has been making its way around blogland.

The rules are:

• Choose an ingredient from the taggers recipe and post a recipe using that ingredient on your blog, linking back to the taggers recipe.


• Tag four people to do the same.


• To keep it exciting please post within a week of being tagged

Kat posted a recipe for Meatballs and Rissoni using Beef stock, so that's the ingredient that I've chosen.

My recipe is for a super simple Braised Steak and Onions - an oldie but a goodie, especially on a chilly night. You can also substitute lamb chops for steak.


Braised Steak and Onions

Ingredients:
Steak (I used Porterhouse but any type will do as braising will tenderise cheaper cuts)
Beef Stock
Gravy Mix
Onions
Water

This quantities I'm using for this recipe make only a single serve, but just multiply the quantities to make larger amounts.

Step 1 - make gravy

Use a half and half mix of beef stock and water with the appropriate amount of gravy mix to make a nice rich gravy. For a single serve, I would make approximately 2 cups of gravy.

Step 2 - assemble ingredients

Slice up one small onion and lay the pieces in the bottom of a casserole dish.
Place a piece of steak on top.
Tip the gravy over the top.

Step 3 - cook

Place in the oven and cook long and slow - at least a couple of hours on approximately 150 degress celsius is best, but it depends on the type of steak that you use. The cheaper the cut, the longer you should cook it.

Step 4 - serve and eat

Serve with a nice creamy and peppery mashed potato on the side to soak up all of the lovely oniony gravy.

The proof is in the pudding

I ended up going with the Sausage Bake recipe from the cookbook for dinner lastnight (which was delicious). I didn't have any cherry tomatoes, so I substituted a tin of diced tomatoes instead, which still worked perfectly. It's a great one pot (one oven dish) recipe which made cleaning up a breeze.

While the Sausage Bake was in the oven, I whipped up the Self Saucing Chocolate Sponge pudding. My vintage pyrex bowl was a little small, so I just stood it in a small oven tray to bake (luckily it caught all of the overflow)....

The best bit about living alone - I get the whole pudding to myself!

Recipe Monday

I've been following Jemma's Recipe Monday posts over at Amityville Boronia for the last few weeks so I thought I'd join in today.

I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Risotto on Masterchef Friday night so I thought I'd try it. This is my version using the ingredients that I already had in the fridge and the pantry - their version used Goats Cheese and Fresh Parmesan.

My version serves 2-3 people

Ingredients:
2 cups raw pumpkin - grated or chopped into small pieces
1.5 cups arborio rice
500mL chicken stock
1 small brown onion - chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
butter
olive oil

Method:
Place the pumpkin into a small saucepan with one teaspoon of butter and a couple of tablespoons of water. Place a lid on the saucepan and steam on a low heat until cooked.

Place the chicken stock in a saucepan and heat until simmering.

In a large saucepan, place a tablespoon of butter and a good splash of olive oil and heat.
Add the garlic and onion and saute until the onion is translucent.
Add the rice and coat in the butter / oil mix.
Add ladles of chicken stock one at a time and wait until absorbed by the rice.
If you run out of chicken stock, and the rice still isn't cooked through, you can substitute a few ladles of boiling water.

The pumpkin and the rice should be ready at approximately the same time. Mash the pumpkin and add to the risotto and stir through.

If you have fresh parmesan, grate a few tablespoons and stir them through. I only had the powdered version which really doesn't do justice to such a lovely dish.

EAT!

A new banana recipe - UPDATED

I found myself a new recipe on a blog a couple of weeks ago. I printed the recipe but didn't include the blog and now I can't find it anywhere. Even Google refuses to tell me where I found it!

The recipe was for banana bread..... it intrigued me because of the unusual secret ingredient - Golden Syrup.

I finally had the chance to test it out, and it's a goodie for sure. It's really quite light in texture which is unlike a traditional banana cake or banana bread. It's not overly sweet but you can taste the golden syrup.

Ingredients:
130g butter (soft)
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2-3 mashed bananas (2 large ones suffice)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup golden syrup

Method:
Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and creamy.
Add eggs and mix well.
Add mashed banana then flour, baking powder, and golden syrup.
Pour into lined loaf tin.
Bake at 160 degrees celsius for 60 minutes.
Cool in tin for a few minutes before turning out.

If you know of the original blog, please let me know so that I can come back and add a link.
Now I'm off to have a piece drizzled with some maple syrup for dessert.....

Thanks to Cass, the mystery has been solved!
I found this recipe right here on Corrie's blog....and I should have used Maple Syrup in the mixture but I used Golden Syrup....whoops, but it was still delicious.

This is.....a favourite recipe I would like to share - UPDATED

This weeks 'This is' theme has perfect timing as This is what I'm taking along to Nico's birthday party today. Every aussie kid (and adult) loves chocolate truffle balls and they're super simple to make....no cooking, just lots of sticky coconutty fun!

Ingredients:
1 packet of Marie or Malt biscuits (I prefer Malt) - packet is 250 grams
125 grams dessicated coconut
50 grams cocoa powder
1 390g tin of condensed milk

Extra coconut and / or hundreds & thousands to roll the truffles at the end

Crush the biscuits in the food processor (you can also do this by hand but it's messy).
Tip the crushed biscuits into a large mixing bowl.
Add the coconut and cocoa powder and mix it all together.
Add the tin of condensed milk and make sure to mix it in really well.
Roll into little chocolately balls and then dip in coconut or hundreds and thousands or both!

These will keep for a few days in the fridge in an airtight container but they don't usually last long enough to bother!

Don't forget to visit Angela if you'd like to play along each week.....


Update for any international readers:
Marie and Malt biscuits are the really plain sweet biscuits that are often used in cooking. They're the same type of biscuit that we use to make the base of a cheesecake.
US Readers - check Murali's comment regarding Graham Crackers

Hundreds and Thousands are also known as sprinkles, or jimmies. They're used on fairy bread or cakes.

Mikes Week of Baking - Day 2

I'm joining in with Pip for A Week of Baking over at Meet Me at Mikes.

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So for day two....a lovely little gingerbread cookie set. My sister bought this for me from Sovereign Hill in Ballarat.

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I haven't had a chance to test run the recipe yet, but here it is if you would like to try it:

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Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups Self Raising flour

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons golden syrup

3 teaspoons ginger

.

Mix flour, sugar and ginger in a bowl.

Melt butter and golden syrup and add egg.

Pour in dry mixture and mix well.

Roll thinly and use cutter to cut shapes.

Cook in 180 degree celsius oven until biscuits are brown and then lower heat to 150 degrees celsius. (About 10 to 15 minutes all together).

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Last step: EAT!

Sunday Supper - Savoury Mince

I'm joining in for Sunday Supper hosted by Pip at Meet Me at Mikes....

This is another one of those recipes that is based on whatever I can find in the fridge.

Ingredients:

500g lean mince beef

1 tsp minced garlic

1 brown onion - chopped

1 green capsicum - chopped

1 zucchini - chopped

1 large carrot - chopped or grated

2 cans tomato puree

2 heaped teaspoons Smokey Tomatina spice blend or just use any spice blend that you like

This one is really simple......add the garlic and all the chopped vegies to a large frypan and saute in a little olive oil. Once the vegies have softened, add the mince and brown. Then add the two cans of tomato puree and the spice blend and simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve with rice or pasta. This would also be great as a taco or burrito filling with lettuce, diced tomato and cheese.

Sunday Supper - Chicken Fried Rice

I'm joining in for Sunday Supper hosted by Pip at Meet Me at Mikes........ this was our late dinner last Sunday night.

This is another one of those recipes that has been made up from leftovers and whatever else I can find in the fridge. In this case, I had half of a roast chicken left in the fridge that needed to be used (waste not, want not)!

Apologies to anyone looking for a proper asian style fried rice recipe....this is definitely not it!

It's best if you cook the steamed rice the day before. I just cooked it in the morning and left it in the fridge all day. To make the steamed rice, I used 1 cup of long grain rice with three cups of water in my microwave steamer and cooked it for twenty minutes on high.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice
1 teaspoon garlic
1 brown onion - chopped
4 mushrooms - chopped
10 snow peas - chopped
1 zucchini - chopped
6 rashers bacon - chopped
Roast chicken - chopped
2 eggs - beaten until just mixed

This can all be cooked in one large frypan or wok.

• Saute garlic, onion and bacon (with a little olive oil and butter) together and then remove from pan


• Add beaten eggs to pan and scramble into little eggy bits (yes, that is my technical term) and then remove from pan


• Add mushroom, snow peas, and zucchini to pan, saute and then remove from pan.


• Add the cold rice and chicken and stir fry until heated through, then add back all of the other pre-cooked ingredients until all of the flavours have combined and all ingredients are piping hot.

Serve and eat....this should be enough to serve four.

Lemon Slice Recipe

I've had a few recipe requests for lemon slice so here it is:

Lemon Slice Recipe

1/2 cup condensed milk
125g butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
250g plain sweet biscuits (marie or malt work well)

Warm the condensed milk and butter. Stir until combined. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Press mixture into a slab tin lined with foil or baking paper.
Refrigerate until firm. Spread with lemon icing. Cut into small squares to serve.

To make the lemon icing, I just use icing sugar and lemon juice. I won't give you any quantities because my icing is usually a disaster!

If lemons are out of season, skip the lemon rind and just use bottled lemon juice for the icing.

If you have a food processor, it only takes about 30 seconds to crush the biccies (much quicker than doing it manually)!

I'd better start searching for my crochet hooks because I'm off to Brown Owls again tonight.....yippee!

Potato Fritters

I had lunch with a lovely friend on Tuesday at the Pancake Parlour.

We were discussing pancakes and she told me about this fantastically simple recipe for little potato fritters, so of course I had to try it!

Here's what I did......

Grate 1 large potato, leave it sit for a while and then drain the juice.

Add 1 beaten egg and mix. Add enough plain flour to make it into a porridge consistency.

Add pepper and salt to taste.

Shallow fry until golden brown.

I served them with a grilled porterhouse and green vegies for dinner.

The great thing is that the recipe is so simple, you could add virtually anything you want.....fresh herbs from the garden, some grated carrot or onion etc....

Great pizza for dinner

I made home made pizza for tea tonight.
I made the base using this recipe that I found on Frances's blog.

1 cup greek yoghurt
2 cups self raising flour

Mix up, knead, roll out onto tray.
Bake base for 5 minutes, take out, add toppings, cook for as long as needed.

It was light and scrumptious! Especially with really fresh toppings.

This is...........Soup...........New Floors

This weeks theme suggested by the lovely Pip is........This is my inspiration board.

I don't actually have an inspiration board. I am inspired by way too many things (books, magazines, tv shows, other blogs, nature, landscapes, art, people, etc) and there are always ideas floating around in my head. So I decided to wander around the garden thismorning and take some photos to make a inspiring garden mosaic.

To see who else is playing along, head on over to Angela's blog!


Pip is also having a soup recipe challenge so here is my entry. I made this soup for dinner lastnight and there's plenty left to put some single portions in the freezer for lunches.

Roast Chicken and Whatever Vegies are in the Fridge Soup

1. Peel and prepare any vegies that you have. As a minimum, I usually use potato, pumpkin, onion, garlic, carrot, and celery (because I usually always have these in the fridge).

2. Choose any extra vegies that you have. I had a corn cob in the fridge lastnight so I added it.

3. Put all the vegies through the food processor using the grating attachment.

4. Put the grated vegies in a large stock pot (I actually use my electric wok).

5. Add chicken stock (I usually use 2 litres).

6. Simmer for a couple of hours.

7. Take all the meat from a roasted chicken (I buy one at my local Charcoal chicken shop for extra flavour). Chop up and add to the soup.

8. At this stage, you can also add Basmati Rice (for a more substantial meal).

9. Simmer for another 20-30 minutes (or until the rice is cooked).

Whoops....I forgot to add this step.....add salt and pepper (as little or as much as you like)!

10. Serve with toast or some nice crusty bread and butter.


And last but not least:

My kitchen floors are finally finished (which is why I was able to cook soup lastnight).

We still have no furniture in there until Monday but at least we don't have to eat takeaway food any more....yippee!

The before shot (bare boards where the old kitchen units used to be and where we took out a wall.

The after shot.......nice shiny floor!

Have a great Sunday.

Thursday Night Dessert

We had some bananas that had seen better days so this was what they became....

Bananas in caramel sauce.... served with vanilla ice cream.....yum!

Smoked Chicken and Bacon Lasagne Recipe

Zoesquid has requested a copy of my lasagne recipe. It's really simple to make because I don't really make it the same each time. It's just one of those recipes that you can throw together without measuring etc but I'll try to include proper measurements as I type it up.

The recipe will feed at least 4 adults. I usually serve it with some simple salad & garlic bread.

You will need:

2 Smoked Chicken Breast Fillets (you can find these vacuum packed in the meat section at Aldi or Safeway).

250 grams rindless bacon

1 large onion

1 jar sun dried tomatoes / or fresh tomatoes if you wish

1 jar roasted capsicum / or fresh capsicum if you wish

2 packets instant lasagne sheets / or fresh lasagne if you wish

2 garlic cloves (or 2 teaspoons minced garlic)

Bechamel Sauce (you can make this any way you wish - I use the simple flour / milk / cheese recipe)

Dice the onion and the bacon. Add the garlic and fry together in a little butter and olive oil. Drain on paper towel.

Slice up the smoked chicken fillets into thin slices.

Slice up the sun dried tomatoes and roasted capsicum into pieces (these may need to be drained on some paper towel also). Don't use the whole jar - just use as much as you need as the flavours are quite strong.

Make the bechamel sauce.

Put a little bechamel sauce in the bottom of the lasagne dish.

Place a layer of lasagne sheets.

Cover in bechamel sauce.

Place a layer of sliced chicken.

Place a layer of lasagne sheets.
Cover in bechamel sauce.

Place a layer of the onion, bacon and garlic.

Place a layer of lasagne sheets.
Cover in bechamel sauce.

Place a layer of tomatoes and capsicum.

Place a layer of lasagne sheets.
Cover in bechamel sauce.

Top with a mixture of grated tasty and grated parmesan cheese.

This can be cooked immediately at about 180 degrees celsius for about an hour. You will need to stick a knife in to see whether the lasagne sheets have softened.

This can also be pre-made and left in the fridge overnight and then cooked in the oven the next day.