Dresses & Snacks

baked porridge

I saw my beloved Bill Granger make baked porridge on an episode of Bill's Tasty Weekends and it looked totally divine, so I gave it a go, with a few tweaks of course. The resulting porridge is far creamier and pudding-y than the stove top variety.



You will need...
140g oats
60g walnuts, you can chop them roughly or I just broke them up with my hands as I chucked them in
60g sultanas or other dried fruit (figs, dates, etc)
3 tablespoons raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
650ml milk plus a little extra
5(ish) tablespoons natural yoghurt
a handful, (roughly 1/2 cup) frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 150°C. Spread the oats, nuts and fruit in a shallow baking dish. Add vanilla, cinnamon and 1 tablespoon of the sugar and mix together.

Add milk and yoghurt and stir to combine.

Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven to add blueberries, gently pushing them into the oats slightly. Top up with a little extra milk if the oats are looking dry and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Return to the over for 10-15 minutes.

Serve topped with a little extra yoghurt, or a little extra milk or honey..or whatever takes your fancy!

I used walnuts, blueberries and sultanas because that's what I had on hand (also they're yummy) but you could easily use different nuts, some stewed apples or even some rhubarb.

This recipe made enough porridge for about 5 Amy-sized breakfasts and it reheats in the microwave very well.

muffin magic

I pinched this "never fail" muffin recipe from a friend (and her ingenious idea of the peanut butter) and added half the pantry in flavourings. To my delight, the muffins indeed did not fail. In fact, they succeeded in the most delicious way possible. The muffins turned out beautifully golden on top, moist inside and scattered with little treats of crunchy peanuts and flecks of dark chocolate. Sublime!



You will need...
1 1/2 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup milk (I used soy, whatever you've got on hand)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (don't use olive oil, it would be too heavy)
1 egg
3 tablespoons LSA or other nutmeal
2 ripe bananas, mashed
75g dark chocolate, chopped how you please
3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180°C

Throw everything except the chocolate, peanut butter and banana into a mixing bowl and mix until combined.

Zap the peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds, this will ensure it mixes evenly through the batter.

Add the peanut butter and bananas to the batter and fold through. Sprinkle in the chocolate and fold through.

Line a muffin tin with patty cases (this mix will make approximately 18 muffins). This isn't strictly necessary, but I far prefer this to greasing the tray and it's nicer if you're sharing them with others.

Fill patty cases around 3/4 full with muffin batter and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and springy to touch. Cool for a few minutes in the trays then transfer to a wire rack.

I'm thoroughly enjoying baking as stress relief technique so hopefully I can continue to find time to indulge in some kitchen time and bring you more yummy recipes.

apple cinnamon porridge

I absolutely adore porridge. When I was little, I would enjoy it frequently during winter out of my Bunnykins bowl with brown sugar on top. While my Bunnykins bowl is not currently in my possession and I don't use as much sugar any more, porridge is still a wonderful winter breakfast.

I can't quite be bothered cataloguing all the reasons why oats are good for you, suffice to say they're pretty great. However, I think a lot of people think they're terribly boring. They may be a little dull to start with, but it takes minimal effort and minimal ingredients to jazz them up into a delightful breakfast.

You will need (per person)...
1/3 cup oats (not the instant ones)
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup milk (any milk is fine, soy, almond, dairy, whatever you prefer)
pinch of cinnamon
splash of vanilla essence (1/2 teaspoon..ish)
1/2-1 apple, peeled and grated. A tart apple is best, I used a Jazz apple but you could also use a Pink Lady.
natural yoghurt & raw sugar to serve

Ideally, you should soak your oats in the water, cinnamon and vanilla in a saucepan overnight. This will give you very creamy oats, gentle infused with cinnamon and vanilla. However, if you don't remember to do this the night before you'll still end up with yummy porridge.

Add milk and stir through oats. Place the saucepan on a low to medium heat, stirring occasionally. Some people go nuts and stir the oats the whole time, I find this results in very gluggy porridge which isn't so enjoyable. I stir my oats maybe 3 or 4 times in total.

When the oats are starting to come together, but still a little milky, add in your apple. I have a whole apple grated into mine, but you may prefer to start with less and see how you like it. Stir apple through oats.

And that's it, your porridge is ready. I like to serve mine sparingly dusted with raw sugar and with a small blob of natural yoghurt on top.

cheap & cheerful

I'm sure you've guessed my disappearance is due to school returning for the year. While I am preoccupied by diligently rendering perspective drawings and creating pages (and pages, and pages) of master schedules I do occasionally need to eat. As anyone who has studied or lived on a budget, you know the names of the game when it comes to tea time is cheap, quick and easy.


This vege-ful soup is just that. The beauty of it is the below is really just a base, you can use this recipe to use up what's in the fridge at the end of the week (some red pepper or celery, for example, wouldn't go astray) or jazz it up with some little meatballs or chorizo and even bulk it up a bit more with some beans (such as red kidney or cannellini). As it is below, it will serve about 4 people for dinner...or 1 student for close to a week.

You will need..

1 tablespoon (or so) of olive oil
1-3 cloves of garlic, crushed (quantity dependent on your preference)
1 brown onion finely chopped, or if you're tired/in a hurry just peel and grate the little bugger
1 carrot, chopped
700g jar of pasata
1 litre chicken stock
1/2 cup pasta. I used a tiny little penne but you could use broken up spaghetti, macaroni - whatever's in the cupboard really
1 zuchini, finely grated
salt and pepper
bread and cheddar for making cheese toastie (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add garlic, onion and carrot and cook, stirring, until softened and starting to brown.

Add stock and pasata and stir well. Bring to the boil, add pasta and reduce to a simmer. When pasta is nearly cooked (around 5 minutes) add in zuchini and season to taste but easy on the salt as there's already a lot in the stock.

Voila, your dinner is ready.

Serve with cheese toast or a toasted cheese sandwich for extra yummy times.

What are you favourite cheap and easy dinners?

easy as pie

I am all about simple and delicious at the moment. For whatever reason, I'm a little extra-exhausted at the moment so my kitchen energy is being devoted to easy, quick dishes that are nutritious (enough).

This little recipe came together last week when I had an undying craving for baked eggs and silverbeet. I made it up as I went along, so these amounts are approximate, but just eyeball it and trust you instincts. There's a lot of 'ish' with this recipe, but let's be honest, it's bacon, eggs and cheese - it's going to be delicious whatever you do.



You will (roughly) need..

4 sheets puff pastry
1/2-2/3 bunch of silverbeet washed, stalked snapped off and chopped into inch-ish wide pieces
4-6 rashes on bacon, rinds removed, torn up as you go
8 eggs + 1 extra
3 tablespoons of natural yoghurt
150g brie (or other similar soft cheese), ripped up as you go along
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180°C

Grease a baking dish well and line with puff pastry. Break two eggs into the base of the pie and top with a layer of silverbeet. Next, add about 1-2 rashers of bacon torn up, scattered over the silverbeet. Break two more eggs into the pie. Add some ripped up pieces of brie. Season with salt and pepper and repeat until you've just about filled your gorgeous little pie.

Whisk together the yoghurt and extra egg and drizzle over the top of your pie filling. Close up your pie with the remaining pastry, joining the lid to the edges and cutting a small slit in the middle of the lid to allow any steam to escape.

Gently pop your pie in the oven for 20-30 mins, until yummy and golden on top.

This is totally lovely for lunch or dinner with a little side salad, just as divine cold in a lunchbox or reheated for breakfast. I tested this on my recipe-guinea pigs at work and it went down and absolute treat.

sweet pins

I like nice bath stuff but I a. have minimal disposable income at present and b. don't fancy scrubbing something into my lovely skin that has a list of ingredients longer than Karl's tail. After a bit of experimentation with ratios, I think my homemade sugar scrub is pretty wonderful. It will make your skin, especially your pins, divinely smooth as it exfoliates while moisturising and leaves you smelling totally yummy.



Just a little disclaimer, I am in no way a beauty or skin expert. This works well for me, but if you have sensitive or tempremental skin please test it on a small patch of you before scrubbing yourself head to toe.

You will need..
A jar (or something to store your scrub in)
1 cup raw sugar (MUST be raw sugar)
100-120ml olive oil
capful (10-15 drops) of lavender oil - you can use another oil but lavender is win-win because it smells lovely and is soothing to the skin

I find it easier to add all ingredients in a medium size bowl then transfer to the container rather than trying to combine everything in the small jar. Start with the sugar, essential oil and 100ml of olive oil and combine. I've found the best mixing instrument is a single chopstick. Add more olive oil to reach your desired texture. I prefer a slightly drier scrub, but find out what works best for you. Worst case scenario you can top up the jar with some extra sugar if the scrub ends up too runny.

To use, apply to your moistned skin in the shower or bath, rubbing in circular motions towards your heart (so, hands to shoulders, toes to hips). Rinse thoroughly and gently towel dry. Voila, you will be scrumptiously smooth and smell like a fancy day spa. This scrub is also great to use as part of an at-home pedicure or manicure. For a pedicure, rub all over your foot, concertrating the scrub on rough bits of your feet using the heel of your hand. For a manicure, simply scrub your hands together as if you were washing them.

Enjoy!

one-pot wonder

Slow cooking and one-pot meals are my big favourites for winter. Little physical effort for big, tasty results. What's not to love?

Just after I moved out of home, a wonderful family friend gave me this book which has served me very well in the years since. I have cooked all sorts of delicious things from it and the recipes have never failed me.

A couple of weeks ago, after finishing up a very hectic semester, I finally had the time and energy to cook a proper dinner for myself. I settled on 'one-pot beef' from the aforementioned cook book. It's a great recipe which results in a really nutritious, wholesome meal that'll make you feel all nourished and warm.


You will need...

• 1 onion, sliced
• 750g topside beef, trimmed of fat (I bought a 1kg piece, by the time it was trimmed it was around the 750g mark)
• 4 small potatoes, quartered
• 250g carrots (the original recipe calls for large carrots, cut into chunks, I used baby carrots instead and trimmed them to leave a bit of green on for cuteness)
• 250g parnsips, cut into chunks
• 50g pearl barley
• 2 bay leaves
• 900ml beef stock
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
* 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
• 100g green beans
• 1 small green cabbage heart, cut into 8 wedges (I opted for 8 brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved)
• salt and pepper
• chopped parsley or thyme, to garnish

Arrange onion in the base of a flameproof/ovenproof pot and place beef on top. Arrange the potatoes, carrots and parsnips around the beef. Add barley and bay leaves.

Pour stock into the pot along with tomato purée, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir gently and bring to the boil over a medium heat and cover. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 160°C and cook for around 30 minutes for rare beef, 40 for medium and 50 for well done (these are estimates based on my oven, so my apologies if they don't directly translate to your kitchen).

Remove pot from the oven. Remove the beef and wrap in foil, to keep warm. Add beans and cabbage/sprouts to pot and simmer over a low to medium heat for 5-8 minutes until the veggies are tender, but still a vibrant green.

Thinly slice beef and arrange on warm plates. Warmed plates is such a nice little extra, not many people do it anymore but it is lovely, just pop your plates into the bottom of your oven when you're close to serving and be careful when removing them so as not to burn yourself. Lift the vegetables out of the pot using a slotted spoon and arrange them around the beef. Spoon sauce over beef and garnish with fresh herbs, if desired.

So there you have it, a really tasty and healthy meal for minimal effort. This will keep quite well in the fridge for a few days. I would recommend wrapping the beef separately and storing the vegetables and sauce in an airtight container.

oodles of strudels

Well..not quite oodles of strudels, just the one. A cherry, apple and ricotta strudel to be precise. This is a not-too-sweet pastry with a lovely richness from the cherries and it's very easy to make. This is another recipe originally from Home Beautiful that I've fiddled with slightly.


You will need...

• 150g of melted butter (you won't use quite that much, but better to have it on hand)
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges around 1cm wide (choose apples with a stronger flavour such as Pink Ladies or Granny Smith)
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/3 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs (for the love of pastry, do not use packet crumbs, if you're tempted to use packet crumbs send me an email and I will send you money for a proper loaf of bread. If you don't have any stale/dry breadcrumbs left, do as I did and dry some good bread in the oven as it preheats and chop it up finely. Voila, lovely breadcrumbs.)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 400g ricotta
• 7 sheets filo pastry (when working with filo ensure you have a damp tea towel on hand, you will need to cover the roll of pastry with the tea towel to prevent it drying out)
• 1 cup pitted Morello cherries, drained
• icing sugar to serve

Pre-heat oven to 180°C and grease a large baking tray with a little of the melted butter.

Place water and sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat, stirring until sugar has disolved. Add apples and stir well, so all apple pieces are coated. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes then drain. The aim is softened apples, not mush.

Add the remaining sugar to the ricotta in a bowl and stir until just combined.

Add the cinnmon to the bread crumbs in a small bowl and combine.

Lay out a sheet of filo pastry on a clean surface and brush with butter. Repeat until you have 6 layers of filo layered with butter, including butter on the top side of the 6th sheet. Sprinkle around 3 teaspoons of the breadcrumb mixture over the pastry. Place another sheet of pastry on top, brush with butter and sprinkle with 3 teaspoons of breadcrumb mixture

Pile the ricotta mixture into a mound along the longer edge. Leave an 8-10cm boarder at each end and in from the edge. Top with apple and cherries. I'll be honest, getting the cherries on top was a bit of a balancing act but you'll get there in the end!

Rolling strudels is possibly a task better suited to more co-ordinated people than I. However, I managed so I know you can too. First step is to fold over the ends, which will be the short sides of the pastry. Next, very gently fold up the longer edge closest to the filling. Gently fold the remaining pastry over the top of the filling and then do your best to roll it tightly.

Brush the join/edges/pretty much everything with butter and gently transfer to the baking tray. I would strongly recommend supporting the base of the strudel with a spatula or similar to prevent any injuries to the pastry.

Bake for 35-40 minutes but check after 30 minutes as filo can get very brown very quickly. Allow to cool until slightly warm or room temperature and dust with icing sugar to serve. The strudel is definitely best at room temperature but I would recommend storing this in the fridge due to the ricotta. It's no hardship eating it cold, either.


Perfect with for morning tea and just as wonderful for a midnight snack.

slow Sunday

I am an extremely devoted fan of low-effort slow-cook recipes. They are delicious and often far more impressive than the original effort put into them. There is nothing better than watching your friends and family lose their crap over something that really only took you 15 minutes of actual work.

I'm visiting my parents (and the pups) at the moment and thought I'd make us a nice, proper Sunday lunch of beef ragu. The recipe original appeared in Home Beautiful but was slightly odd, so I've made some adjustments as usual.



You will need..

• 1 kilo of skirt steak (please make the effort to get good meat from a good butcher, preferably one who can tell you exactly where the meat came from)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, finely chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 bay leaves
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 cup red wine (don't use crappy wine, if you wouldn't happily drink it then don't cook with it)
• 1.5-2 cups beef stock
• 700g jar passata (or at a pinch, tinned tomatoes)
• approximately 3 tablespoons olive oil
• starch of your choice (I served the ragu with curly fettucine, it would also be lovely with gnocchi or even mashed potato)
• parmesan to serve
• salt and pepper

Cut the steak into large pieces, no need to be exact. Heat half the olive oil in a large, heavy based pan over a medium-high heat and brown the meat in two batches. Remove meat from pan and set aside.

Reduce the heat slightly and add the rest of the oil to the pan and heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic, stirring for around 5 minutes until softened. Return the meat to the pan along with wine, 1.5 cups of the stock, passata, bay leaves and rosemary. Season and stir gently to combine.

Bring to a gentle simmer and cover. Continue to cook for 2.5-3 hours, stirring occassionally. I checked mine ever 30 minutes or thereabouts.

If you're making pasta, I'd get that started about now.

In small batches, remove meat from the pan onto a plate and shred it with two forks (give it a go, you'll get a technique happening pretty quickly), then return to the sauce. Continue until all meat is shredded. Leave covered over a low heat until your pasta/whatever you're serving it with is ready. If the sauce is looking a little dry at this stage or you'd like a bit more liquid, add some more of the stock.

Serve ragu topped with good, freshly grated parmesan..and probably a glass of red.

sweet and salty roasted almonds

Over the long weekend at a family friend's place for lunch I munched on home-roasted almonds and they were just delicious. I thought I'd give them a go, and jazz them up a bit of course. Athough the baking time is about an hour, the prepation is minimal and can be done in a matter of minutes, which makes it perfect for a pre-dinner party nibble. Imagine your guests arriving to a home smelling of cinnamon with these tasty treats on the table.

You will need...

• 4 cups natural/raw almonds
• 1 egg white
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup raw sugar
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Pre-heat oven to 130°C

In a large bowl whisk egg white, water and vanilla until light and frothy. You're aiming for nice big air bubbles, but not peaks. Add almonds and stir until all nuts are well coated.

In a separate bowl combine all the sugars and seasonings. Sprinkle over nuts and stir until well coated.

Spread the nuts onto a large baking tray lined with baking paper. Ideally you want one layer almonds, but a little bit of overlapping won't kill anyone.

Bake in the oven for approximately 1 hour, stirring a few times throughout the cooking. I mixed mine at 20 minutes and again at 40 minutes and that worked fine.

Remove from over and cool befor serving. Store in an airtight container.

These nuts have a nice toffee-like crunch to them and are subtly sweet and salty. For a more intense flavour, double the salt and add an extra 1/4 cup of brown sugar. They're just as perfect for a mid-morning snack with coffee as they are with a gin and tonic at the end of a long day.