Nothing beats homemade soup

When I mentioned on Twitter and Facebook that we were having homemade pumpkin and sweet potato soup for dinner, I had a few people ask how we Bill made it.

So Bill says you need: (and he’s not one to measure, so apologies for no measurements) pumpkin, sweet potato, cream or sour cream and a chicken stock.

Peel the pumpkin and sweet potato and cut into pieces. Throw pieces into the slow cooker, along with (about 1 litre) of chicken stock and 1 litre of water. Cook on High for about 2 hours. Add 600ml of cream and then, while your wife is busy blogging about Ferrari parts, blend until mixture is smooth. If it’s still too thick for your liking, add more stock.

Add a dollop of cream or sour cream on top to serve and enjoy with crusty bread rolls.

Yummo!

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350 pierogi!

Penny (my sister) and I got together this afternoon with a mission to make a whole heap of pierogi, which are Polish dumplings that can be made with various fillings. We did it the way our Babcia (grandmother) always does and that’s with mince and onion.

So we chopped and fried off the onions, browned the mince and then combined the two:

The dough consists of flour, water, a pinch of salt and a couple of eggs:

While we (actually I lost count how many Penny had) had a couple of these:

…we kneaded and rolled and cut out the dough in small rounds and filled each one with some of the mince and onion mixture, sealing them tightly so they don’t come apart while cooking:

I should say here before Penny rings up and complains that I didn’t give her enough credit that Penny did do most of the hard yakka……

We made 350 of these little suckers! All lined up and ready to be cooked in boiling water. Penny assured me that they were ready when they suck to the bottom of the pot. I assured her that they were actually ready when they floated to the top LOL

Delicious with some melted butter and sour cream….good for lips, but definitely NOT good for the hip!

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Ahh, Monday

I went to BiLo this morning with the intention of JUST buying bread and milk but as usual, I came out with about 6-7 bags of stuff! But I did find a bargain! The heaters were marked down to $25! So I bought a 3 bar heater which, while small, does a great job heating the lounge room!

But this was meant to be my Menu Plan Monday post so I’d better tell you what we’re having this week!

Thinking we might do (in no particular order):

• carbonara pasta bake
• apricot chicken
• chilli con carne
• garlic and herb lamb shanks
• tuna and potato pie
• chicken cacciatore
• sausage hot pot

Served with either salad, vegies or rice (or a combination of the 3)

Baking: banana muffins, cheesecake, choc cupcakes and pikelets.

What’s on your menu this week?

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Croque en bouche is painful!

So SOMEONE (read: silly me!) had the bright idea to try and make a croque en bouche, just like the cooks on Masterchef Australia. I followed this recipe which looked easy enough…

I was concentrating hard on making the choux pastry so there are no photos of that part…but the little profiteroles turned out ok…until I pierced them to let the steam out and they kinda collapsed:

While they were cooling, I made the custard…from scratch, thank you very much!…and then filled the profiteroles:

It wasn’t until I started thinking about assembling my tower that I realised that I didn’t have anything cone-like to mould it! So my darling Macgyver Bill made me a cone out of chicken wire and baking paper and I was able to mould to my heart’s content with the caramel:

After letting it set, removing the baking paper proved to be a little challenging and unfortunately it seemed unable to stand on it’s own…yes, that is Bill’s hand trying to hold it up while I took a photo LOL

And while it didn’t have the delicious-sounding crunch like those made on Masterchef, it still tasted freakin’ awesome!

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What’s on the menu?

Half of the mummified lot are under the weather at the moment and  it doesn’t help when both Bill and I are sick at the same time because neither of us feel like cooking…or cleaning….or anything that involves dragging our sorry asses out from under the blanky.

But seeing that Bill has a few days in front of me and is feeling a bit better than I am, he’s cooking for the next few days…

So this week will look like this:

• spaghetti bolognaise
• cola chicken and rice (going to try making it in the slow cooker)
• beef ragout and mashed potato, veg
• savoury mince and rice
• bangers and mash, veg
• canneloni and salad
• homemade chicken soup (in the slow cooker)

Baking will include:

• homemade dinner rolls
• banana muffins
• cupcakes

….but only if I feel better.

What’s on your menu plan this week?

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Lemony cupcakes

Inspired by Julie’s “lemon diva” cupcakes on Masterchef Australia, I made my own version today:

What you’ll need:

• 125g butter, softened , chopped
• 1 teaspoon lemon essence
• 2/3 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
• 1/4 cup milk
• zest from 1 lemon

For the icing, you’ll need:

• 125g butter, softened, chopped
• 1 teaspoon lemon essence
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk

For the candied lemon slices:

• lemon slices
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons water

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two 12-hole patty pans with silicone cases.
2. Combine butter, essence, sugar, eggs, lemon zest, sifted flour and milk in a small bowl until mixture is smooth.
3. Divide mixture among cases; bake about 20 minutes.Let cool.
4. Meanwhile, make lemon butter cream.
5. Spread tops of cakes with icing, top with a candied lemon slice.

To make the icing:

• Beat butter and essence in a small bowl with electric mixer. Gradually beat in half the sifted icing sugar, milk, then remaining icing sugar.

To make the candied lemon slices:

• In a saucepan, heat the sugar until it turns a slight golden colour but still transparent.
• Add the lemon slices and simmer for 10 minutes until the syrup slightly thickens.
• Place a lemon slice on top of the iced cupcake. Pour a little of the syrup on top.

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