Okay this may be a slight exaggeration and influenced by the fact that one of my favourite places to be is the kitchen anyway, but some days I do feel chained to it like a 1950s housewife. Today is one such day, chiefly because I had absolutely no food prepared for the week and spent this morning doing a big ole' grocery shop.
As you know I've been working my way through recipes from my good mate* Donna**, having purchased her annual kids mag a few months back. I'm yet to be disappointed, having just about cooked every recipe from the magazine by now.
Today I tried two new ones, Choc Banana Oat Cakes (alright yes, they are for me) and a Zucchini, Corn and Cheddar Loaf (a lunch option for Heiks). Because I love Donna SO much I will urge you to run out and buy a copy of the mag rather than posting the recipes, although I can tell you that I over beat the oat cakes/cookies a little (carried away with my Kitchen Aid, it happens) and fixed it with a bit of self raising flour and water. They turned out REALLY scrummy, evidenced by the fact I just ate two when I told myself I'd only have one. I also "sampled" the loaf (all in the name of good blogging) and it was all cheesy, zucchini-y, corny loaf goodness.
 | ||||
| Mmm Oat Cakes...Delish! |
 |
| Zucchini, Corn and Cheddar Loaf |
I was also meant to make Apricot Chicken, an old faithful my Mum used to make me, but managed to come home without Apricot Nectar, which I believe is a key component of Apricot Chicken. Yes, I'm always winning at life. BUT not all was lost, because I managed to find this recipe for Orange Chicken, which has that similar Moroccan-esque sweet-savoury thing going on. Sadly I only made two serves so not enough for the whole fam as I would like to consume this with some couscous and steamed veggies, as Heiks will be tonight (lucky duck! Hubby and I eating Saturday's leftovers).
 |
| Orange Chicken, simmering away in my Le Creuset |
The greatest thing about all of these recipes was that they are EASY PEASY which is in keeping with my philosophy that all cooking should be simple, fresh and delicious (this is similar to Donna Hay's "Fast, Fresh, Simple" credo, I admit). I don't believe in over-complicating cooking with things like mortar and pestles and food processors and other such time consuming equipment, at least not when the same flavours can be achieved with some strong herbs and a bit of slow cooking.
RANDOM FUNNY PHOTO: Just thought I'd tack this on the end, Heike has been amusing us all weekend with her tendency to assume the "downward dog" position at random moments, holding it for up to five minutes if the mood strikes her. Here she is at the park yesterday stretching it out - must have been those three prenatal yoga classes I took!
 |
| Recently voted "Funniest Child Ever" by Justus and I |
Z xx
* Relative term
** Hay
No comments:
Post a Comment