meaty goodness

My gal had a friend over for a sleepover tonight, so I set them to work making dinner to earn their keep. We had baked chicken meatballs with linguine and damn, they were good. Here's the recipe:

600g chicken mince

6 thin slices of prosciutto, chopped

4 french shallots, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 slice of bread, grated

1 egg

1/2 tsp dried thyme

grated rind of 1/4 lemon

salt, pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and form into balls the size of ping pong balls. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake at 180 for around 20 minutes or until golden and firm, turning once during cooking.

Serve on linguine with a simple sauce made with passata, garlic, onion, pesto, red wine vinegar, white wine, salt and pepper.

If desired you could stir meatballs through the sauce and leave them to simmer for 10 minutes, but these were crispy on the outside, tender on the inside and had such an array of flavours from the lemon and prosciutto I'd serve them on top of the sauce {and actually, I did - with just a grating of parmigano regiano over the top}.

The girls were chuffed with themselves and gobbled their whole plate up {asking for extra meatballs mind}, my husband thought they were divine, and I got yet another lemon fix for my tastebuds. Gotta be happy with that!

absolute essentials

Well, my gal's at the movies with two of her besties, I've sent off both pieces of work due for today, there's washing on the line and now I can choose one essential task to cross off the "should-do" list. I have my essentials {washing clothes and dishes, cooking, shopping} and anything else in the household arena comes after the essentials and my work is done. Sure, that means that I currently have dustbunnies the size of tumbleweeds rolling down my hall, but, really, it's not going to kill us. {well, maybe if we had serious allergies, which we don't...}

So now, my task of choice is to tidy up that which poses a health hazzard {magazines on the floor - husband, I'm looking at you!} and then vacuum. If I'm so inclined I might give the sink and toilet a quick spritz, and then a cup of tea, a spot of afternoon cooking shows, and then a wander to the butcher to pick up my special fresh chicken mince I ordered for tonight's meatballs.

My home's not spotless, but really, isn't life about priorities? Chatting with a friend this morning cemented this. When you've got a lot going on you can't possibly do everything, which can get you so down you end up doing nothing. So my motto is to choose something, do it well, and the rest? Shrug my shoulders and say "what the hell..."

frugal friday

Well, we managed to get through our holiday without spending up too hugely, and I must say that cooking dinner's at home was probably the key. Coming home I've also tried to base our meals around what we already had - only buying fresh meat and a few veg for our meals. Whenever I'm meal-planning for the week I like to check out what I already have in the pantry or fridge and go from there - with some basic staples you can create so much. I like to have the following on hand:

garlic

onions

carrots

celery

potatoes

sweet potatoes

green veg

lemons or limes

tinned tomatoes

passata

tomato paste

chicken and beef stock

pasta

flour

arborio rice

fresh nuts: slivered almonds, pistachios, walnuts - all kept in the fridge for freshness

dried herbs

fresh thyme and rosemary

eggs

bacon

chorizo

ham

butter

puff pastry

With these essentials you've got the base of almost any meal. I've also always got red wine, white wine, rosé, champagne and beer in the fridge to make any sauce special. If I find any of these items on special, I'll stock up, they don't sit in the pantry for long. This way I can always stretch a meal too - adding an extra side dish or a baguette if we have an unexpected guest or two for dinner.

Nibbles with drinks are also easy to whip up - a hot spicy nut mix is easy made by popping nuts on a baking tray, dotting with butter and brown sugar and a bit of cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Baked in a hot oven for 5 minutes, it's delish. Or I'll sauté up some slices of chorizo, deglazing the pan with a little red wine and pepper to pour over the top. A little more time and I'll caramelise some onions and thyme and make teeny puff pastry tarts.

A well-stocked pantry is a frugal-foodies best friend, as Liss from frillsinthehills.blogspot.com can attest with her latest challenge! What are your pantry staples?

becoming besties with your butcher

As you know, I'm keen to support local businesses, which is why I'll walk down the street to my local butcher every couple of days to buy whatever I need for dinner. And, tell you what, if you ask politely, your butcher'll do almost anything you ask them {meat-wise that is}.

I went in yesterday to buy my chicken thighs for the pot pies {delish btw and a thousand times simpler than the Ina Garten recipe I'd used previously} and decided to buy the chuck steak for tonight's black ale and beef pie.

There was a new butcher there and I asked him if he'd mind slicing me up big chunks of steak - one inch thick - around a kilo of the stuff. Sure, no problem. So today, when I went to cook up the casserole, I simply sprinkled a few tablespoons of flour in the bag with the meat, added some dried mixed herbs, salt and pepper and mushed it all around. Then I diced up onion, garlic, carrots and celery and softened them in the pan for around 10 minutes in a good slug of oil. When soft, I simply threw in the beef and tossed it in the heat for a few minutes before pouring in my beer. After it stopped bubbling I topped it up with some beef stock, added a few wooden spoonfuls of tomato paste, a couple of bay leaves, a glug of worscester sauce and brought it to the boil.

Popping some baking paper over the top, I added a lid and flung it in a low oven {150 degrees} at 3.30pm and won't take it out till 6.30 when I serve it with colcannon mash and green beans.

my, my, my, my, MY

Oh Mr McQueen! Pour moi? You shouldn't have! Okay, divinity overload - how amazing are these heels? Sure, they cost as much as my first car {ah, the avocado green Datsun 120y - they don't make 'em like that anymore - thank goodness!} however, these shoes are prettiness personified with that pink sole and layers of ruffles. They'd really up the va-va-voom of any little black dress!

naughty nigella

Well, I had my menu plan all set - until I sat down with a cup of tea to watch Nigella and promptly changed my mind. Now, because of Nigella, we're having Chicken Pot Pies for dinner rather than pork fillets.

Must say, pot pies are the perfect way to get a pastry fix, particularly when served in ramekins with only a circle of pastry on top.

Onions, garlic and pancetta are fried in oil till golden. Then toss chunks of 6 - 8 chopped chicken thighs in a ziplock bag with 2 1/2 tablespooons of flour and some dried thyme. Add this to the pan with a nob of butter, give it a stir till flour is cooked out then add around 375ml of chicken stock. Stir, then pour into ramekins and top with a round of puff pastry {with a few fork holes poked in the top} brush liberally with egg wash, sprinkle with salt flakes and bake at 200 degrees celcius till golden {20 mins-ish}.

Yum.

what's cookin' wednesday

Now I'm back on track and ready to make a meal plan for the next week. It's a bit of a crazy week as I'm away on Sunday night and not back till late Monday, so hubby will be cooking for two of those days and we're off to a friend's for dinner on Saturday night where I'm just bringing a plate of nibbles. Here's what we're eating in between:

Wednesday, pork fillets wrapped in prosciutto and baked on a bed of rhubarb, served with broccolini and sweet potato chips {this is in a book I bought on hols - possible Jamie - found for half price in a wee shop in Gulgong - buy of the trip!}

Thursday: Beef stew, colcannon and green beans

Friday: Baked chicken meatballs with linguine

Saturday: dinner at our friends' - need to think of tasty nibbles to whip up

Sunday: I'm away, so no roast, steak and veg will make my hubby happy

Monday: Spaghetti bolognaise for when I schlep off the train, all tired and hungry

Tuesday: Chicken noodle soup {my gal's special request}

starry starry night

One of the coolest things about our four days in Mudgee was our Friday night trek out to the Observatory. Wowsers. Now, while it was a lot more rustic than I'd expected {we treked up a dark hill, behind a house and saw a tin shed an a couple of domes on the side of a hill - and climbed up and down ladders to get the view} but oh my, what a sky.

Far away from the city lights the sky was just bedazzled with stars - it was amazing and gob-smackingly gorgeous. And because the observatory was privately-owned, the owner was there happy to share his knowledge and love of the stars. Through telescopes I saw a jewelbox of constellations, incredible nebulas and a star in its death-throes {damned spectacular}.

The owner had a helper there with him and between them they had the coolest thing ever - a laser pointer with a 20km reach. That meant I could say, "Where's Scorpio?" and they'd point to it and draw around it - it was so clear and cool.

There was a little cloud which obscured Saturn for most of the time we were there. But we went into the shed and watched a 15 minute DVD on Saturn and when we came out it was peeking out to say hi. Because nothing was too much trouble, these blokes then moved the telescopes to focus on the planet and we saw it in all its glory. It was almost side-on, so the rings were merely lines dissecting the planet - but still, dead cool.

All this for $10 per adult and $5 for kids. Best money I've ever spent.

time-saving tuesday

Even though I work from home, I still like to be a bit stepfordy around the home, so I'm always looking at ways to trim time from my tasks. And I thought I might start sharing the love. Sometimes the simplest things evade our notice. I know that I used to think that menu-planning was for weirdos with too much time on their hands and a lack of creativity. Now, I see it as quite possibly the best invention ever {yep, topping the wheel, fire, iMacs, television...}

So that's number one on my list: here's number two. I remember years ago going to a friend's house who had three kids under five and being amazed when I noticed her washing line. She had a fabulous old silver hills hoist and on three of the quarters were hung particular items of clothing - each child had a section completely dedicated them. I quickly wrote that off as far-too-much-trouble. However, lately, in an effort to stem my moving various piles of washing from one flat surface to another - but rarely the correct surface {which would be inside the proper drawer or on the correct hanger} I decided to take in the washing in a certain order: my gal's clothes, my clothes and hubby's clothes: and a certain manner according to drawer or wardrobe space {socks and underwear, tops, pants, etc}.

Now, this sounds insane, however, it means that because I fold when I take it off the line, I have to merely take the basket into my daughter's room and then our room, and remove the clothing straight into the correct spot. A little bit of time out in the sunshine of the backyard spent sorting, means less time putting away {my most-loathed of task}. And I reckon I'm getting a wee bit of incidental exercise with that moving around {however, if I had a lovely spinning Hills Hoist I'd just have to spin it - easy-peasy}.

So now, it's 4.43pm and all the clothes from our holiday are washed and packed away - not sitting in teetering piles all over the house. This takes me to a happy place!

simple tastes

After spending our long weekend away cooking the meals each night {as the weekend was my mother-in-law's birthday pressie I wanted her to totally relax} we got home last night, after six hours on the road, and I was after simplicity for our meal. So, I had a packet of spaghettini, some pesto-marinated-feta bought in Mudgee and some chorizo in the fridge {now it's a staple!}

I cooked up the spaghettini till just before al-dente, sauteed some slices of chorizo and then tossed the pasta with a spoonful of cooking water in the frypan with the crispy chorizo. I then broke up some of the feta, tossed it in with a little of the oil and pesto and shook the pan around to distribute it.

There: dinner's served.

On our weekend away I was thrilled to discover a big, fat, free-standing smeg oven in the kitchen, all shiny stainless-steel and cavernous space. So I knew I'd be cooking up in the oven on the first night. Off to the butcher and the grocer and I made a couple of shephard's pies with local lamb mince and topped with plenty of creamy mash. Served with some broccoli and sweet corn on the side. MMMmmmm.

Day two saw us head to the Farmer's Markets, in search of a fat pig - which we found in the local Ormiston Free Range pork. I bought a voluptuous shoulder and roasted it with plenty of root vegies that night, and sweet little bursts of peas. The pork was a lush, ruby red, with a rind that made the most crisp, sweet crackling. Oh my. Delish.

Sunday morning we had the eggs left by the owners of the cottage we rented, and, oh my. Blue and green perfect hen's eggs greeted me when I opened the carton - almost too pretty to crack. However, we'd also bought some pork chippolatas to have with scrambled eggs {and french sourdough toast - from a v popular stall at the markets...} so I cracked away. The richest, lushest yolks and whites greeted me - and made me yearn to make custard with such beauties. However, I do think the creamy scramble did them justice.

Sunday night was a lazy night in preparation for the MasterChef finale. I cheated and bought some King Island Gourmet Beef pies which I served with mash, gravy, peas, corn and broccoli. And, hello, for a cheating meal it was damned fine.

I reluctantly bade farewell to my mega smeg, and came home to my standard-size number. But, realistically, with a family of three it'd be tough to justify losing cupboard space for the extra oven-width. However, for a butler's sink I'd happily skim a few inches from a cupboard or two...

home-sweet-home

I reckon that the best thing about a holiday is coming home. Don't get me wrong, I looooooove the holiday aspect {and our four days in Mudgee were so relaxing and gorgeous} but driving back into my home-town I realise how much I love where I live. Walking up to my front gate I soak in my garden and home, and fall in love with it all over again. There's no place like home.

frugal friday {well, nearly}

I can't skip frugal friday - and I'll be too busy to post in the morning. So here goes. This week was all about budgets. Going through, trimming, skimming, plotting and planning. We've got a date to pay off debt, and I'm going to do whatever it takes to get there.

When we were at Uni I remember having only a few dollars till the next payday - and making do. We ate well, went out and saw bands, dressed okay {still in op-shop clothes mind - some things never change} and I think it's time to re-embrace that attitude.

We might be headed off for a four-day weekend, but I've packed plenty of stuff to take with us. There's snacks to eat on the way, bottles of water filled from our purifier, soup for lunch on arrival and we're even taking our coffee machine with us to save buying takeaway {yes, big benchtop coffee machine, five people, luggage for four days, Holden Astra...}

Making frugal fun!

country roads...

We're headed off for four days in the country bright and early in the morning. We'll be staying at Mudgee and this is one of the places I'm dead keen to visit - a cafe in an old butchery {I think I'll be coveting those tiled walls...}

My gal and I are also off to the Observatory tomorrow night - can't wait to see the skies without any city lights to dazzle.

There's a farmer's market to explore on the Saturday, plenty of vineyards, a number of gourmet fooderies... I reckon we'll have a damned fine time.

See you all next week!

the kids are aw-right

Saw it. Adored it. Can't wait for the final two films. Am desperate to re-read the whole series. Am utterly besotted with these three - love 'em all. Still have an evil crush on Snape {I know!}. Cried. Laughed. Gasped. Was amazed I didn't have nightmares about scary things in the water. Want to live in the Weasley's house. Think Helena Bonham-Carter was exquisite and wish my curls would behave in the same manner as Bellatrix's. Am reduced to short sentences with its magnificence. Go see.

shiny shiny bad times behind me

A dozen Tra La La Las would trip from my lips wearing these sparkly Miu Miu numbers. I know my friend M is dying a million deaths that they're not in her wardrobe - and me too - considering we're the same size {hey, it's my birthday in a few weeks - I'm a size 37 - thanks}

wacky wednesday

Oh my. Harry Potter tonight! Dead excited. However, am v, v, v, busy so must get bucketloads of work done between now and netball training at 4pm. Eeek! My gal's having a playdate {thank you G - you're a lifesaver!}, I've got the ingredients ready for provencal chicken and a to-do list that's just itching to get crossed off.

Now I've had another double shot of caffeine I'm ready to bust a move on this work. Ready, set - kapow and I'm off!

music that moves me

In an effort to get myself moving I've delved into iTunes and my computer's blasting out Tender by Blur. And, oh, the memories. See this was one of the songs I played during labour and one of the few songs that could calm my child instantly. Even now, she stills and listens when it comes on. That, along with Lullaby by Reef are two of her favourite songs... and the soundtrack to her babydom.

Listening to bits of the JJJ hottest 100 of all time on the weekend I had to agree with many of the top 10. There were plenty of tunes in there that instantly catapulted me back in time - including the number one - Smells Like Teen Spirit that sends me back to the Hordern Pavillion for the first ever Big Day Out with Nirvana steaming up the room. Good times....

The Hordern was also the scene for Blur, where I basked in the presence of Damon Albarn's beauty and magnificent tunes. Sigh.

I've been blessed by being present at some truly amazing gigs in my lifetime - Pavement, The Pixies, Neds Atomic Dustbin {ah, good times}, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Breeders, Foo Fighters, Reef, Iggy Pop, Nine Inch Nails, Chris Isaak {what can I say, eclectic tastes} Scissor Sisters, Supergrass, Smashing Pumpkins {overseas passenger terminal - opera house as the backdrop - oh my}

Ah, memories...

my heart belongs to paris

sounds of silence

My gal's at her grandparents today after having a sleepover last night, so my house is eerily quiet for a school holiday. Strangely, even though I didn't have to, I woke early and was sitting at my computer at 8am {well, early for me!}

I've got bucketloads of work to do today while I'm on my own. Four jobs on deadline for Thursday. Yep, four. I'm the original gal who can't say no - but I love being busy.

We're off on a four-day-break on Friday morning, up to Mudgee with the in-laws. Can't wait. Although last night had an awful thought that ye-olde-homestead in Mudgee might not have channel 10 for the finale of MasterChef!!!! I think we'll be sending a frantic email and if not, putting on our thinking caps {local pub screening it perhaps? Motel room???}

Can't say I was sorry to see Lucas go last night. Serving up two pies, savoury and sweet, that looked identically crap... well, not the final week of MasterChef is it? I've now come to terms with the fact that the Australian MasterChef really only shares a name with it's English cousin. We're not seeing cooking anything like that calibre - although there's a few contestants whose restaurants I'll be visiting.

Tonight, in honour of last night, I might cook a pie... Julia's duck and red wine pie perhaps. Oh, and if I were on MasterChef know what I would have cooked last night? Venison, rosemary and beetroot pie with a blood orange meringue pie for sweets. Yum.

Okay, time to settle down to work now. I've already had two double shots of coffee this morning - should propel me nicely into achievement...

ahhhh, that's better

Our gal's 'new' wardrobe was delivered this morning bright and early at 9am - and by 10am it was in her room. Poor delivery blokes. It's a solid number, I'm thinking oak - and as you can see, it's a whopper. To get it in through the narrow hallway required removing the top {easy - just lifted off}, the base {not-so-easy - the former owners had screwed the base on with plenty of two-inch screws} and a door {100-odd-year-old screws + rust + paint = a helluva job}. Then there was a lot of shuffling, paint scratching, back-breaking work until finally it was in.

Our daughter's in love - even though a few bits of paint have come off. We cleaned it inside and out with a vinegar, bi-carb, hot water and lavender oil mixture and it's sparkly clean. As you can see the Miley Cyrus posters are already on the side - and it's now filled with all her clothes.

Doesn't it just look like it was made for that spot in her room? The delivery guys said that if we decide to get rid of it - not to call them! But it's a keeper. Now the shelves are lined with pretty-scented paper all we need to do is create a little lavender bundle to tie in a sprig and hang from the rail.

That's one room in the house finished.

Sigh...