Dark chocolate truffles ...

Recipe here

And the follow up tips post is here.

Quinoa salad ...

Source: Poppytalk

Updated 15/9/2012: made this today for the footy / netball windup tomorrow and had some for tea ... very good, I added a small tin of tuna to my serve and it was delicious.
And because it will be served for many others to try I replaced the pecans for pinenuts, never know who might have a pecan / walnut allergy

Also found so great looking recipes links for quinoa here ... Domesblissity

oh my goodness ... yum!

Source: askchefdennis

Will let you know when I've tried this one ... looks scrumptious!!

Updated 16/9/2012: Made this yesterday and tried it today
... recipe was easy to follow
... tasted very good :-)
... although next time I would halve the "cream" layer, way too much and halve the chocolate pour over sauce as way too much left over.
... substituted light corn syrup with honey and granulated sugar for caster sugar, also only used 1 tablespoon of instant coffee, rather than 2
So would make this again :-)

One bowl chocolate cake ...

Source

Edited to add ...

Thursday 6th September 2012:
Tried this recipe ... it sort of worked out to be a one bowl and a bit recipe ... I melted the first part in a small metal bowl over the boiling water in the saucepan and then once it had cooled I transferred it to my Kitchenaid bowl and continued the recipe!

It was a very nice cake :-)

Red wine braised beef cheeks

Okay so the photo isn't too good but tonight's dinner was sensational!!

It is something I have wanted to cook for a few months. I had purchased the main ingredient a few weeks ago but didn't work out to cook it then so they went in the freezer.

I had inadvertently ordered the same ingredient at our local butcher which I picked up on Monday ... again I couldn't cook it straight away so it went in the freezer until this morning :-)

So what are "they" you are wondering?

Beef cheeks ... yes as they sound the cheeks of the beef!! LOL

I have seen a lot of recipes in cooking magazines recently and thought I would love to cook them.

I found this recipe ... Red wine braised beef cheeks in Donna Hay Issue 63 (June / July 2012) and gave it a try.

The original recipe was served with Paris mash but I decided to try polenta and green beans ... it was delicious and I would highly recommend them :-)

It was an easy recipe and the results were a beautiful winter meal :-)

I can't find the recipe on line but Googled similar recipes ... give it a try :-)

Locally the Cummins Butcher will get them arranged for you and I also bought them at the Gourmet Butcher in Port Lincoln. The ones I cooked tonight were from Cummins and were magnificent :-)

Pizzas ...

Tonight I had a go at making pizza bases, not something I have tried before.

The recipe I used was from the Feast magazine, May 2012,  for a tray pizza ... 

Recipe found here ... http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/15228/Pizza_all%E2%80%99Andrea/search/true

Results:

1. it didn't mix so well in my Kitchenaid for some reason and I needed to add extra water.

2. we made a double recipe so the kids could make their own pizzas

3. the base was very good although thicker than I would like

4. I would try this recipe again.

5. Our topping was passata, artichokes, champinion mushrooms, Kalamata olives, anchovies, baby spinach, roasted capsicum, dried mixed herbs and mozzarella ... yummy!

Next time I think I'll try this one, recommended to me by Carrie :-)

Pizza dough and grissini recipe by Karen Martini

http://karenmartini.com/cook/recipes/mr-wolf-pizza-dough

Another one I will try is one Kathryn suggested from Taste.com ...

Recipe found here ...http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/14433/pizza+dough

I would love to hear of any tried and tasted recipes ...

Recipe to try soon ...

Source of photo & recipe

Edited to add ... tried this recipe and it was delicious, will definitely make it again :-) I think I served it with baby potatoes and asparagus.

Dinner Friday night ...

So I cooked Pete Evans's recipe for Blue Swimmer Crab Linguini (from his book Fish) but used vongole / pipis / cockles instead. and also added a splash of white wine and a spoon of light cream.

Subtle flavours and a tasty dish :-)

Dinner Friday night ...

I am looking forward to what we cook Friday night ... John and the kids and the two gorgeous girls next door, Macey and Nigella, went cockling today and we are having vongole / pipis for dinner Friday night!!

Maybe spaghetti vongole

Can't wait :-)

Dinner tonight ...

So tonight we had some Kinkawooka Mussels to cook ...

And I had seen a recipe in the Weekend Australian lift out magazine for Spiced Mussels by David Herbert (7th - 8th April 2012) so I gave it a try ...

very tasty and easy!!

We didn't have any Fives Loaves Bakery sourdough or ciabatta so we made do with some naan bread :-)

Dinner tonight ...

We were lucky enough to be given some abalone today (still not entirely sure if it was black lipped or green lipped!)

I have never had it before and John had only had it on a footy trip years ago!

Source

Luckily I had borrowed some cookbooks from our local library and one of the books was Fish by Pete Evans ... published originally in 2007 it is one I am definitely going to buy ... living in such a great seafood area of the country!

In his book Pete says that this is the most expensive seafood to come from the sea. 

So there was a recipe for abalone ... page 16 ... abalone schnitzels ... basically crumbed in panko crumbs.

I was a bit nervous as I had heard lots of people say it is tough but tonight John cooked it and it was so tender and delicious. Really yummy and Jack and Hannah liked it too, Lachlan tried a bit but not Rohan!!

So thank you Jack H for harvesting them and letting us try them :-)

Chocolate cake ...

Source: Just a Pinch

Broccoli, grape & pasta salad ...

\

Source: My Recipes

Lemon chicken ...

Recipe over at BBC Food

Dinner tonight ...

Recently in Adelaide I had dinner at the Old Lion and ordered the Atlantic Salmon Nicoise  ... it was yummy and felt fairly healthy!

So tonight I was on the search for a recipe ... found one in one of my favourite cookbooks ... Stephanie Alexander's "The Cooks Companion".

The recipe originates in the south of France in Nice and traditionally has Tuna but we had Atlantic Salmon!

Basically it is green beans and baby potatoes cooked and added while warm to kalamata olives, boiled eggs 1/4ed, Roma tomatoes 1/4ed and I added baby capers because I didn't have anchovies and gently tossed!

Then plate it with  cos lettuce (what I had), top with other salad items and the cooked Atlantic salmon.

The very light dressing was olive oil, freshly cracked black pepper and 1/2 the amount of red wine vinegar that I mixed with the warm and cold ingredients.

Yummy and felt healthy!!

My couscous salad for Summer 2011 / 2012 ...

I made this recipe up this week to serve with the Moroccan chicken that John cooked on the BBQ ...

(the Moroccan chicken was simply Masterfoods Moroccan Seasoning sprinkled over strips of chicken breast and left for 5 or 10 minutes ;-) but it is really good!!

My Summer Couscous ...

1 cup couscous
1/2 red capsicum, diced
2 sticks of celery, sliced thinly
1 medium red onion, diced
2 tablespoons sliced black olives
1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled, deseeded and diced
1/2 block low fat Feta, cubed
1 tomato, diced
handful fresh mint, chopped
handful coriander, chopped
juice of 1 lemon
handful flaked almonds

Prepare couscous by placing in a bowl and pouring over 1 cup hot water, fluff with fork after a few minutes.

Prepare all other ingredients (except lemon juice and herbs) and add to a large bowl, mix in couscous and then add herbs and mix and pour over lemon juice and mix again.

Enjoy ... this served us for 4 serves, adjust ingredients according to how you like it :-)

Oh and as it is served each person can add a dollop of Farmers Union Greek Style Natural Yoghurt!!

Yummy summer slalad ...

Recipe and photo found at Pioneer Women

Yummy salad planned to be made!!

Photo from and Recipe can be found over at Petchy's blog ... bulgur and chickpea salad!

Think I'll try it with cous cous ... yummy!!

Dinner tonight ...

So I received the latest Delicious magazine yesterday (September 2011) and have had an initial look through and started to tag recipes that I'd like to try!

Tonight it was ... Vietnamese Chicken with Pickled Cabbage Salad, p.102

(hard to take quick photos of food ;-) ... not that attractive)

I halved the chicken sauce part of the recipe but used 6 chicken thigh fillets.

I halved the salad part of the recipe.

Lots of my friends don't like chicken thigh fillets ... something about the brown meat I think. I find it really tender and moist in comparison to breast fillets that can dry out easily.

The recipe had the sweet, sour and hot that the chefs on Masterchef referred to in Asian foods. 

This recipe ... 

The salad: good sour, maybe a little too sweet and maybe not quite hot enough. But those things can be adjusted for the next time I make it!

The chicken: not hot at all but that is okay if the salad had a bit more heat, lovely soft sweet flavours and no there were no sour flavours.

The salad really complimented the chicken and the meal was fresh and felt healthy while we ate it. So by reducing the sugar in the sauce and the salad it would be more healthy!

The chicken had a caramel sauce ... my first attempt to make the caramel was a failure ... I burnt it ... but the second attempt ... I don't think I cooked it long enough so it wasn't brown enough for the effect it was meant to have ... better luck next time! So if you try this recipe watch the caramel carefully!

So end result: I would try it again!

quinoa recipe ...

I bought some quinoa recently and I have been on the search for a recipe ...

I might try this one ...

from Zakka Life

Quinoa Tabbouleh Recipe

(recipe from Auntie Susan)

Ingredients:

2 Cups water

1 Cup uncooked quinoa

1 pinch salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (if using bottled lemon juice start with 2T and add to taste)

3 tomatoes diced

1 cucumber diced

2 bunches green onions, diced

2 carrots grated

1 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1. In a saucepan bring water to boil. Add quinoa and a pinch of salt. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature; fluff with a fork.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine rest of ingredients and stir in cooled quinoa. 

Enjoy.