Cooking up a storm!

Hi there :)  I've been continuing my cooking journey with Chelsea Winter's cookbook Eat and I'm still getting awesome results using her recipes.  Usually I only cook a couple of recipes from a cookbook but this one really appeals to me and I'm enjoying trying out some new spices too!

You can see my previous blog post HERE where I shared Lightning Chicken, Chicken Tikka Masala, Lemon Squeezy Slice and Rich Beef Goulash... all delicious!

The next recipe I tried was Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Curry.  I love Thai Green Curry and I've tried out a LOT of recipes but they all fell short of the mark.  This time I made my own spice paste following Chelsea's recipe and oh my goodness it was GOOD!  The smells coming from the kitchen were incredible.

On the same day I made the curry, I also tried out the Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake... YUM!!  You really only do need a small slice because it's pretty rich... in fact next time I think I'll make it in my square springform tin so that I can cut it up into small squares.  We had some to celebrate Mikayla's birthday... and then we had some for pudding the next day... and then I took some to school on the third day and I think it tasted even better by then.  I have no idea what it tasted like by Day 4 because it was all gone!

The next recipe on my list was Bali Beef Rendang.  I've never been to Bali but this recipe made me want to travel there!  It was super easy to cook... smelt delicious and the taste was incredible!  According to Chelsea, the spices preserve the meat so that it lasts for ages.  I put the left overs in the freezer and they taste pretty darn good reheated from frozen too!  I had mine with Shanghai cabbage and snow peas cooked in a hot pan and then splashed with a little balsamic vinegar... Yum Yum!!

After doing all these meals and desserts/treats I thought I'd make something to take to school for lunch.  After a quick look through Eat I came up with the perfect thing... Crummy Chicken.  This recipe is ridiculously simple and much like how I've done crumbed chicken in the past but somehow it just tasted different this time... and it was perfect with some salad for lunches!  I shared some of the chicken with my workmates and one of them said it was 'like KFC only better'!

So there's another four recipes from Chelsea's book Eat.  I can honestly recommend this book to anyone interested in cooking and eating delicious food!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend xx

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