Stuffed Capsicum Soup

This is one of the most filling soups I have ever tasted. I also chose to just add the rice to the soup when it had 5 minutes to go.

- 3 cups cooked rice                    
- 1/2 kilo lean beef mince
- 1/4 cup diced celery
- 1 cup diced onion
- 3 capsicums, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup fire roasted capsicums
- 800g can diced tomatoes
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- a splash of red wine
- salt and pepper to taste

1. Brown mince over medium heat and set aside.

2. In a large pot, Add celery, onion, capsicum and  garlic and cook over low heat for about 5-10 minutes.

3. Add the beef, tomato, roasted capsicum, chicken stock  and spices.

4. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. *at 25 minutes, I added the cooked rice*.  

Cabbage kofta

When I saw this recipe, I knew I just had to try it. I love when my next door neighbour gives us "meat" kofta, so I just had to taste what this was like. There is a gravy that goes with it as well, but I will make that next time. I am quite surprised at how yummy these were.

- 2 cups shredded cabbage        
- 3/4 cup flour (or as needed)
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 chopped green chilli
- 1 teaspoon salt
- oil to fry

1. Mix all the ingredients together, but only add enough four to make a very soft dough.

2. Heat the oil in a pot.

3. Slowly drop about 1 tablespoons of dough into the oil one at a time. DO NOT OVER CROWD THE POT.

4. Turn the koftas occasionally and cook until golden brown.

Easy peasy coconut ice

For years, my mum would tell me how yummy coconut ice was. I finally decided to make some to see what the  big deal was. It is a great sweet to satisfy your sweet tooth.

- 1 can of sweetened condensed milk                      
- 3 1/3 cups icing sugar
- 4 1/4 cups desiccated coconut
- red food dye

1. Combine everything together except the food dye.

2. Press 1/2 the mixture  into a small greased slab tin.

3. Mix a few drops of food dye into the other 1/2 of the mixture.

4. Press the pink mixture over the white slab. Chill until firm.

Anzac biscuits

As yesterday was Anzac Day, one of my mates' mums made Anzac biscuits, and they looked so yummy. So I decided to make the biscuits my mum makes from her cookbook which she got from when she went to school.   The recipe asks  for 1 tablespoon of golden syrup, but if you're like us and like the biscuits soft, we add 3 instead.

- 1 cup rolled oats                                
- 3/4 cup coconut
- 1 cup flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tablespoons boiling water
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tablespoon golden syrup

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees celcius. Mix oats, flour, sugar and coconut together.

2. Melt syrup and butter together.

3. Mix soda with boiling water and add to the boiling water and syrup.

4. Add to dry ingredients.

5. Place small balls of mixture on a greased tin.

6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Tunisian Style Cous Cous

It shocked me how simple this recipe was to make. With the amount of ingredients it has, I was expecting something to take forever and as I hadn't cooked with cous cous before, I didn't realize it only took no more than 5 minutes to prepare. It is such a satisfying meal.

- juice of 1 orange

- 2 tablespoons lemon juice                
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- teaspoon each of dried:

• chilli powder
• cumin
• oregano
• salt
• garlic powder
• black pepper
• onion powder
• paprika
• cayenne pepper
• celery salt

- 1/2 cup cous cous
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 red capsicum
- a handful of beans
- a handful of broccoli

1. In a bowl, combine the orange juice, vinegar, garlic, and mixed spices.

2. In a frying pan, saute the onion in the oil until tender, then add the mixture from step 1. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the tin tomatoes and vegetables.

3. Soak the cous cous in 3/4 cup hot water. Once the cous cous is soaked through, add it to the frying pan. Combine everything until it is thoroughly mixed. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.

Garlic Chicken

This is one of the most tastiest recipes I have tasted that only has a few quick ingredients. For the first 30 minutes, it says to use the tempertaure 180 degrees celcius, but I found my chicken wasn't cooked, so I turned it up to 200 degrees celcius and left it for another 15 minutes.

- 1/4 cup butter               
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 bonless, skinless chicken breasts (I chose to cut them up into large slices )
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2. Melt the butter and remove from the heat. Add the garlic to it.

3. Lay the chicken breasts in a single layer in a baking dish.

4. Cover them with the parmesan cheese and pat it down a little, and pour the butter mixture over the top.

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked. *It is after this 30 minutes I turned it up to 200 degrees celcius and baked it for another 15 minutes, but I think it depends on your oven.*

Orange Chicken

I found this recipe to be quite rich and full of flavour. It's a good idea to serve it with steamed rice.

- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast  
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup cornflour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 egg, beaten
- oil for frying
SAUCE:
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3 tablepoons fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
- 2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons orange zest grated
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons shallot, chopped
- 3 tablespoons cornflour
- 2 tablespoons water

1. Combine flour, cornflour, salt and pepper. In another bowl, add the egg. Dip chicken in egg and let the excess drip off. Coat the same pieces in the flour mixture and shake off excess. Fry in the oil until golden and cooked. Drain well.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining the water, orange juice, lemon juice, vinegar and soy sauce in a pot. Blend well over medium heat for a few minutes. Stir in the brown sugar, orange zest, ginger, garlic and shallots. Bring to the boil. In a small bowl, combine the cornflour and water until well blended. Slowly stir in sauce until the sauce thickens. Pour the sauce over the chicken.

Fettucine with Spiced Butter

- 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads           

- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 100g butter
- 6 medium shallots
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- scant 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red chilli flakes
- 1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
- 1/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- black pepper
- 225g egg fettucine
- 225g asparagus, sliced into rounds
- splash of cream
- 1/2 cup (60g) pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped mint
- 2 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley

1. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. While waiting for it to boil, place the saffron threads and pinch of salt into a mortar and pestle and crush it into a fine powder. Set aside

2. To make the spiced butter, place the butter and oil in a frying pan and cook the shallots gently for about 10 minutes, or until they soften and the butter browns a little. Stir in all the spices (except the saffron powder), the salt, and a little black pepper, remove from heat but keep warm.

3. Salt the boiling water generously and cook the pasta according to the packet until al dente. Barely 30 seconds before the pasta has finished cooking, add the asparagus to the pot. Stir in the saffron salt. Add pasta and asparagus to the butter mix, and add a splash of cream. Toss well. Serve in large bowls and sprinkle with pine nuts, mint and parsley.

Quinoa Salad

I had never seen, let alone even heard of quinoa in my life. Shopping with mum, I saw a packet of it in the healthy section in the supermarket, so I looked for a recipe to try with it. I find there isn't much taste, but I like the texture of it.

DRESSING:

- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar               
- salt and pepper to taste

SALAD:
- 1/2 cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 1 cup can corn
- lime juice and salt and pepper to taste

1. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together.

2. Cook quinoa according to the packet directions. Cool slightly.

3. Mix the corn and tomatoes together in a bowl. Add the quinoa and dressing. Squeeze the lime juice on top and season woth salt and pepper to taste.

Breakfast sausages

For about a year, my mum,dad and myself would sleep over my aunty and uncle's house every weekend. For breakfast my aunty got carried away making an omlette with kransky in it. I must admit, I got terribly sick of it as I'm not an egg lover. I recently remembered the omlette when I had a sudden craving for egg one night.

- 1 kransky sausage
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 eggs whisked
- salt and pepper

1. Fry up  the onion, garlic, and kransky until the sausage gets some colour.

2. Add salt and pepper to taste to the whisked egg and pour it evenly over the sausage mixture.

3. Cook evenly on both sides.

Cheat's Bruschetta

When my best friend at the time was working in a kitchen, her boss made me some bruschetta. I couldn't tell him I didn't like tomatoes, and I'm glad I didn't. I picked out the ingredients he used and found an easy way to make it. Apparantly he also used lemon juice, but I find it tastes the same without it. Normally I would buy a French stick and toast rounds, but sometimes I buy a packet of bruschetta bread and use that for some extra flavour.

- tomatoes
- red onion
- basil
- garlic
- salt

- olive oil

1. As I have come to realize, the part I don't like of the tomato are the seeds. So remove seeds from tomatoes and dice up small.

2. Dice up the red onion as small as you can.

3. Add 1 clove of garlic and a little basil. In my case, 1 teaspoon of garlic and 1 long squeeze of basil.

4. Add enough olive oil to coat the salad. Add salt to taste.

For an extra flavour as well, When I went to Queensland, one of the restraunts poured a little bit of balsamic vinegar over the top as well. I must say it's quite nice. You can also use plain toasted bread instead of the fancy bread in my picture.

Chicken Stroganoff



When I make this meal, I find for some reason, weather it be in my head or not, in step 3, I mix all the liquids together in a jug. I did this to save myself some washing up, but found it changed the taste a little bit. But like I said, it might be in my head.



I didn't have any parsley to mix in with the cream



- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 onion, diced

- 1 clove garlic, crushed

- 500g chicken, cubed

- 250g mushrooms, sliced

- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and saute onion and garlic until the onion is tender.

2. Add the chicken. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the chicken is browned. Stir in the mushrooms and cook for a further 3 minutes.

3. Blend in the tomato paste and paprika, followed by wine and stock. You could do this, or as I mentioned above, mix all in a jug first. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

4. Stir in the sour cream and parsley just before serving. Heat gently.