Cook... Eat... Yum!

Hi there... you might have picked up from the title that today's post is about cooking... food and eating!  And you'd be right!!  On Sunday night, Krystal and I went to Chelsea Winter's book launch for Eat... and we had a really good time.  After pondering about buying the book for a couple of days (some things take time) I finally found a signed copy at Whitcoulls.

Photo from Penguin Books

I went through the recipe book and picked out a couple of things that I knew instantly I wanted to cook... and I haven't been disappointed at all!

On Tuesday I headed to Vetro to buy some spices for my ever-growing collection.  I love how fresh they are and actually very good prices too.  A quick trip to the supermarket to buy a couple of ingredients and it was time to cook. 

Tuesday

For my first recipe I picked Lightning Chicken which is called 'Lightning' because it's pretty quick to cook... it might be quick but it's absolutely delicious.  I served mine with three B's... basmati rice, beans and bok choy... oh my!

The creamy thyme sauce was absolutely delicious and the rice soaked up all the extra sauce.  I steamed the bok choy in my wok with a little balsamic vinegar and garlic... super tasty.

Wednesday

Next up I decided to go for another chicken dish... Chicken Tikka Masala.  We were all heading off to Awakeri for a swim at the hot pools so I got the chicken spicy marinade made before we left and let it do it's work while we were off having some fun.

Miss Chloe LOVED swimming at the hot pools and she looks totally gorgeous in her little swimmers and the swim suit Nana bought her.

So... back to the cooking... we got home from the pools and the chicken was ready to be cooked.  I also made the sauce from scratch and oh my those spices smelt INCREDIBLE!  I did some rice in the rice cooker and before we knew it dinner was on the table... YUM!

Krystal and Mikayla both gave it the thumbs up and since the recipe makes enough for six people I was able to freeze three dinners for another night.

Thursday

Yesterday I decided to try one of Chelsea's sweet treats... Lemon Squeezy Slice.  I will definitely be making this for a morning tea shout next term!  Super easy... no cooking... and it tastes absolutely divine!  The recipe says it makes 15 slices but honestly I think I got double that... it's hard to tell because every time I turn around another piece is missing!

At mid-day I had an osteopath appointment so I took a couple of pieces in for Victoria as a treat.  She was starting boot camp last night so she said she was going to save it for later... then I got a phone call from her in the afternoon saying... oops I've eaten it all!!

Just a little enabler alert here... I bought a new chopping board while I was in town yesterday and it's awesome!  It's called a 'Chop2Pot' and basically it lays flat while you are chopping onions, capsicum, mushrooms etc and then it folds the sides in so that nothing falls off when you put it in the pot.  I tried it yesterday and I really loved it!

So what was for dinner last night?  Rich Beef Goulash!  I cooked it in a casserole pot... low and slow... and it was divine!  It's full of paprika which is one of my favourite spices and it reminded me of a Hungarian dish 'Mr Harry' used to cook when I was little.

I served mine with potato mash and Shanghai cabbage which I cooked in a little butter and then splashed the pan with balsamic vinegar... so good!  It was only Mikayla and myself for dinner last night so I've got five of these little babies (minus the Shanghai cabbage) in the freezer!

As for tonight, we're celebrating Mikayla's birthday before she goes back home tomorrow... the holiday at Nana's house has gone by so fast!  I did ask if Mikayla wanted to go out for dinner, have takeaways or eat at home and the answer was... eat at home!  So tonight we're going to try the slow cooker Thai chicken curry out of the recipe book.

I have to say that I'm currently loving cooking again... feeling inspired in the kitchen... it's a good thing xx