haha

toddlers.. CJ just put her puzzle pieces inside plastic containers and into the freezer. what goes through their minds?!

Daily LIfe 220611

Today we went to Noffland with K&E. Couple of minor meltdowns from CJ, but mostly fun trip.. included coffee :) Now L is asleep after fighting it for a couple of minutes. Easiest baby ever, that one. Easy laugh, easy smile. Loves her sister and misses her when she's at kindy. CJ and I took the chance to prepare dinner -I'm on a mission to try new recipes, having stuck to a rotation of about 10 dinners, almost all meat and veg or salad for the last 8 or so months since L was born.

Here is a gratuitous photo of L 'standing up'. Not interested at all in pulling herself up, but will stand up if someone props her up on a toy :)

mac cheese

1/2 pound elbow mac
3 T butter
3 T flour
1 T powdered mustard
3 cups milk
1/2 cup diced onion
1 bay leaf
1 large egg
1/2 t paprika
12 oz cheddar cheese
s&p

350dgre C oven.
cook pasta al dente
melt butter, whisk in flour and mustard 5 mins. stir milk, onion, bay leaf and paprika. simmer 10 min and remove bay leaf.

temper in egg. stir in 3/4 cheese, season. stir in pasta, pour in dish, top with remaining cheese make 30 min.

lentil salad

toss cooked lentils (tinned fine) with olive oil, finely chopped onion, garlic and lots of parsley and corriander. season with S&P. and serve as a salad

baked fish with garlic and corriander SA

1 x 1.5 to 2kg firm flesh sea fish eg snapper blue eye
375g walnuts roughly chopped
1 bunch coriander finely chopped
7-10 garlic cloves crushed
1/2 cup olive oil
juice of 1-2 lemons
salt
1 t ground cimamon
1/2 t cayenne pepper
oven 180 degrees C
wash fish inside and out and dry
put into lightly oiled baking dish
combine remaining ingreds to make a sauce, adding a little water if needed
spoon some sauce into fish, and pour rest on top.
bake fish 40 min or until fish was done
serve hot or cold

veal scallopinie (Stephanie alexander)

use a pan that just holds the meat
2 x veal scallopine
salt
pepper
plain flour
butter
olive oil
4 thin slices lemon
handful sage leaves

preheat oven to 100degrees C, and put in plates to warm
season meat with s&p then dip in flour and dust off excess. head a nut of butter and a small slush oil in a frying pan. drop in lemon and brown on both sides. remove lemon to hot plate and slip veal into pan.
seal for 1-2 mins, then turn over and seal other side quickly.
remove veal to oven. drop sage leaves and 20g butter into pan and swirl around. lift pan from head as butter foams and leaves become crisp. spoon sage and butter over meat and serve immediately with browned lemon slices on top.

lemongrass chicken sbs

ngredients
500 g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite size pieces
3 tbsp fish sauce
1.5 tbsp sugar
2 lemon grass stalks, white part only, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, finely diced
2 long red chilli, finely diced
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 onion, cut into wedges
1 cup young coconut juice
3 coriander sprigs for garnish

View conversion table

Preparation
In a mixing bowl combine fish sauce, sugar and mix until sugar has dissolved. Add half of the lemon grass, half of the garlic, half of the chilli and all of the chicken. Coat the chicken then marinate it covered and refrigerated for 1 hour or over night for a better result.

Bring a large saucepan or wok to medium heat, add oil and remaining lemon grass, garlic, chilli, and fry until fragrant and slightly brown.

Turn heat to high then add the chicken sealing all sides until browned, around 2 minutes on each side.

Now add coconut juice, onions and cover with a lid, then cook on medium heat for a 5 minutes or until sauce has reduced by half.

Transfer to a bowl, garnish with coriander and eat with jasmine rice.

prawn and satay pizza

1/2 cup satay sauce
1 bron onion
500g raw prawns (frozen garlic prawns from woolies are good)
1/2 cup cashews
1 cup pizza cheese
pizza base (yiros base are good)
red chilli

cook 10 mins with cashews on top and satay on bottom

apricot chicken

2 t oil
4 chicken thigh fillets
1pkt french onion soup
1 can apricot nectar (415 ml)
1 can apricot 1/2 (425g)
bake all ingreds in dish for 1 1/4 hours