What's for dinner?

Here's what we had for dinner at my home this past week. I love to see what others are feeding their families.  I'm often inspired by others and love trying new recipes. If you would like a recipe for any of the above meals just leave a comment below.

Black bean and corn quesadilla with coriander and lime rice

Grilled Salmon, asparagus and potatoes

Eggplant Parmigiana

Tuna 

BBQ marinated chicken with avocado and four bean salad

Laksa

Lemon grilled chicken with coriander and lime rice, tomato salad and corn

Enjoy! 

Sultana Scones

Everyone was working hard on Sunday around the house. So I decided to make some scones, everyone's favourite. I always make plain but thought I'm going to give Nan's sultana scones a try. 

They turned out just as I remembered. I promise, you start eating them and it is very hard to stop.

What you will need

Makes about 8 

2 1/2 cups of self raising flour

1/4 tsp of salt

2 tbsp of butter

1/2 - 3/4 cup of sultanas

2 tbsp of caster sugar 

3/4 cup of milk 

1 egg

Method

1. Sift flour and salt into large bowl.

2. Rub in butter quickly with finger tips.

3. Add sultanas. 

4. In a large jug add milk, egg and sugar, making sure to dissolve sugar completely. 

5. Mix into a moist dough using a knife. Sometimes you may need to add a small amount more of flour. 

6. Turn onto floured board and press out to about 1 inch thick. Mixture can be very sticky.

7. Cut into scones and place on a floured tray touching each other, so that they will help each other rise.

8. Brush with milk.

9. Bake in a hot oven for about 12 minutes .

10. Wrap in tea towel to cool. 

11. Best eaten hot with butter, Jam and cream to be really naughty. 

* don't be scared to add more flour or milk, sometimes I need to. 

I hope you enjoy. Leave me a comment to let me know if you try them.

Muffins

My kids love muffins. Here is a quick and easy muffin recipe that you can make in no time. They are great for school lunch boxes, after school snacks or great to send with hungry children for Saturday sports. This recipe is perfect for using up overripe bananas, leftover chocolate chips, berries and  zucchini, yes that's right zucchini.

I like to make a huge batch and freeze half of the cooked muffins in snap lock bags. Just remove from freezer place in lunch box and they are perfect for morning tea.

What you will need

6 cups of plain flour

3 cups of castor sugar

2 teaspoons of salt

3 tablespoons of baking powder

4 large eggs 

300g of melted butter

1 2/3 cups of milk

4 cups of berries or 4 bananas, 3 cups of choc chips (add more if you like your muffins very chocolate)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Prepare muffin tin, grease or line with muffin cases.

3. In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.

4. Melt butter and cool slightly.

5. Add eggs, melted butter and milk to dry ingredients and mix well.

6. Fold through berries or bananas or chocolate chips gently. 

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through and slightly golden. 

Remember you can add anything you like to this basic muffin base. Have fun and enjoy! 

June

I'm still here! Life has been crazy busy, so I thought I'd share a quick update of photo's from June so far. It's been cold, so lots of fires and soup. Our sweet baby girl has been doing lots of painting, play doh, kinetic sand and drawing. 

I love watching her paint and listening to our 2year old explain what she has just painted, so sweet.

We have been experimenting with some new soup recipes, we love soup in this family. I tried overnight chia oats for breakfast and it was a huge hit. We have been buying all our weekly fresh produce at our local market and I am really happy with quality and variety. Overall life is busy and blessed.

Gluten Free Scones

Since vintage Daddy found out that he must follow a gluten free diet he really has missed having scones. For years I have used my Gran's recipe and it has never failed. I have searched for recipes, I have tried many and they have been awful. Several weeks ago I found a recipe, tried it but of course I changed the  recipe as I always do. Well it was perfect and Vintage Daddy gave it the thumbs up. When something is good I need to share! 

What you will need

3 cups of Gluten Free Self Raising flour

2 tbsp of butter 

1 tbsp of caster sugar 

2/3 cup of milk

2/3 cup of water 

Method

1. Sift flour into large mixing bowl. Add sugar and mix.

2. Rub room temperature butter into sifted flour with finger tips( making sure you rub through butter quickly).

3. Mix milk and water into flour mixture, mix through with a knife making the figure of eight movement. 

4. Tip dough out onto a floured surface and press out dough to about 1inc thick. Cut with a medium size scone cutter or as Gran would with a Jar/glass.

5. Flour a baking sheet and place scones touching each other( they help each other to rise placed this way). Should make about 10-12.

6. Brush the top of scones with a mixture of milk and egg yolk, to create a lightly golden scone. 

7. Bake in a hot oven at 220C for approximately 12 minutes or until just golden. 

8. Serve hot scones with Jam and cream. 

# be careful to not over cook as they will go very hard

Enjoy! 

Hommus

A new lovely follower asked for my recipe for Hommus. I make Hommus on a regular basis as my 2 year old sweetie loves it and so does the rest of my tribe. I have tried many recipes and experimented with different ingredient combinations but the recipe below the family have given the big thumbs up. 

What you will need

1 can of chickpeas 

1 tsp of ground cummin

1 clover of garlic crushed

1/4 tsp of chilli paste or fresh chilli

1 tsp of tahini 

1 lemon

1 tbsp of olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method 

1 Process all ingredients in electric food processor and enjoy! 

* add lemon according to taste, I like lots in mine and sometimes I add more garlic. 

* sometimes I also add some fresh coriander

 Every time I make hommus I never measure out the ingredients I make it according to how the family like it. The recipe I have provided is a guide, experiment and have fun! 

 

Christmas 2014

Christmas has been filled with joy,  love and laughter! Thanks to everyone who has supported my little blog, I truly appreciate all your sweet messages. I would like to wish everyone a Happy New year and and a cracker 2015.