Day to Day

Best hamburger recipe

Last week my scrambled brain threw a few random ingredients in a bowl and before I could say huzzah, I was serving up the best hamburgers that I've ever cooked.  Seriously yum!  I cooked these again tonight too - the recipe is definitely going to used as my 'go to' for burgers.

Incase you'd like to give them a whirl too, here's the recipe:

• 500 grams mince 
• 2 massive garlic cloves {we love our garlic}  
• 1 carrot, grated
• 1 egg
• 1 level tablespoon dry mustard
• salt & pepper - nice & generous :)
• 3 rounded tablespoons shaved parmesan

Mix the above ingredients together and form into hamburgers.  Pop in the fridge for at least an hour before cooking.  We like to serve ours with caramelised onion, lettuce, sauce, tomato slices and delicious Gouda cheese.

Enjoy!

Thermomix green smoothie

I was only just recently introduced the big wide world of green smoothies - I know....where have I been hiding, right?!  I love that I can whizz them up quickly in the Thermomix and this particular recipe I make often because I can have it for lunch and then I stay nice and full until dinner. No snacking is a win/win!

It's an adaption of several recipes that I've found online and we've been using fresh silverbeet from the garden to make them - yes, Mr Goodsell loves (okay, likes!) these too.  Here you go:

Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed silverbeet

1 cup water

1 mango

roughly 1/2 cup pineapple 

1 banana

How to:

Chop up the banana, pineapple and mango into smallish pieces and freeze.  I buy a heap of fruit at once and then make up individual bags (zip-lock bags) so they're all ready to go in the freezer.

Pop the silverbeet and water into your Thermomix - speed 10 for 30 seconds.

Add your frozen ingredients - gradually increase to speed 10 over 10 seconds, then speed 10 for 50 seconds.

Pour into a glass and enjoy.  This makes enough for one serve, but it's a VERY big serve.  I pour it all into a large glass and then top up with the remaining liquid as I can.  As I said, I like the big serve because it keeps me full all afternoon.

Of course the possibilities are endless - you can switch the fruit or use a different green for the smoothie, but this is the perfect combination for my taste buds.

Enjoy!

Breakfast meals

Weekends are pretty lazy around here - a sleep in that's usually followed by several cups of tea with a slow breakfast.  Yesterday I sipped my tea and ate warm pumpkin bread on the back deck.  It was warm and sunshiny and I was feeling grateful that spring is just around the corner - so many more warm days to follow.

The rest of the family waited for their egg and bacon muffins to cook in the oven - a new weekend favourite.  But, while I devoured my own breakfast I started thinking about my September Sort It list and all the other things I hope to achieve around the home before Christmas.  Sometimes there don't seem to be enough hours in the day for everything, you know?  Another thing that popped into my head was that there are just under 4 months until Christmas?  Eeek!  

I. Must. Get. Organised.

So, I ate breakfast and pondered over my list.  I decided to try and kick over my September Sort It list as soon as possible - I'm thinking mid month if possible.  I'll keep you posted.

Back to breakfast.  Do you enjoy something special for breakfast on weekends?  Do you like to sit in the sunshine and sip tea or snuggle indoors with the weekend paper?  Do you make big plans while you eat?

Soup kind of week

Lately it seems to have become my kind of thing to make up a big batch of roast vegetable soup on the weekend and enjoy it for lunch from Monday to Friday.  

Last weekend's soup was roast pumpkin and capsicum - a new favourite with a splash of curry powder and a dash of real cream to taste.  So good.

One bowl of soup for me to enjoy (once it's ready) and 5 tupperware containers full, ready for lunch time week meals.

Home made soup equals a happy Mama.  

How about you - do you whip up soup in advance for weekday meals or devour it all on the weekend?

P.S. Thank you for all the lovely comments on my paleo post - I'll share an average day of my meals very soon.

Let's eat cake!

Last night I really felt like cake.  I googled and then came across Teresa Cutter's no bake chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  A quick pantry search and it was all systems go in the kitchen! Ten minutes later, this sweet cake was in the fridge - preparing to be shared after tonight's dinner.  Yes, I did wait a day until consuming some of the cake...

The cake itself is made from some very simple ingredients - walnuts, raw cocoa, chia seed, dates, cinnamon, salt, vanilla extract and orange zest and a little juice.  

I was surprised (and hesitant) about the chocolate icing because the main ingredient was avocadoes.  Yep.  I whipped up the icing secretly - that's code for not telling my family that it contained avocadoes until they actually tasted it!  

The cake was quite delicious and the icing....well, I'll definitely be using this recipe again in the future.  Nobody detected the hidden avocadoes (there were two of them) and it tasted very chocolately.  

You can find the recipe over on Teresa's blog.  She has some fantastic recipes, including a delicious Paleo Pumpkin bread that I cooked the other night and will be baking again this weekend.  So good.

Weekend baking

{Banana bread} 

I love a bit of weekend baking and since we had a wet and cold Saturday and Sunday, I spent my time baking, finishing off Bella's leg warmers (photos to come), starting a new knitting project (will share soon), watching the Olympics with the family and pretty much being lazy!!  It was nice to have a few days to just chill and relax though.

{Coconut chips - so good, but I did 1/2 teaspoon salt + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon}

{Healthy fudge bombs}

So, do tell - did any weekend crafting or baking happen at your house?

Making cumquat jam

Last week I patiently peeled and pipped one million tiny cumquats.

Then I threw them in my Thermomix with some sugar.

20 or so minutes later I had delicious cumquat jam!

Actually it was a little more like cumquat marmalade and I'm not a super marmalade fan, so I'm giving most of it away to my Mum and inlaws.  It was fun to make though.

Next up on my cooking agenda is a big batch of rhubarb relish - oh so good!

Are you making any jams or relishes at the moment?  Do you like cumquat jam?  Do you just have your jam on bread and scones, or is there another secret squirrel way to enjoy it?

Amish cookie recipe

One of my lovely readers (hi Fiona!) asked for the Amish Cookie recipe, so here it is:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups of plain flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 packet of choc chips

1 tablespoon hot water

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar together.  Add egg, water and vanilla.  Beat until fluffy. 

Add plain flour and mix well.  Gently stir through the baking soda and choc chips.

Roll a nice big teaspoon full of the mixture into a ball, press down gently with a fork onto a baking tray.  Bake in moderate oven (180 degrees) until golden brown - about 12 minutes or so.

Best. Cookie. Ever.  I've yet to find a chocolate chip recipe that beats this one!

Doubling up - do you?

I've only recently discovered the joy of doubling my evening meal for left overs the following night.  I know.  Where have I been?

I can't believe I didn't catch onto this whole doubling up process a little earlier on, it's saving me hours in the kitchen.  Hours.  That's more crafting time, more family time, more fun time!

I'm not baking extra portions every single time I cook, but the other day I had a casserole jam packed with veggies simmering away in the slow cooker while our evening meal was cooking on the stove.  The next day I reheated the casserole and that was my evening meal done and dusted. Woot!

Last night I did a double batch of potato bake - hello tonight's potato.

I've been doubling up on cookies and cakes too - something for the tin and something for the freezer.  I'm feeling quite silly I didn't do this earlier in my 18 years of marriage.

The only down side is that on the day of baking there is sometimes extra washing up, but on the flip side there isn't much at all the following day.  That's a good thing when you don't have a dishwasher.

So tell me, do you double up on meals?  Do you make big batches of evening dishes and freeze some of these for later on?  Do share!

Honey cookie recipe

Yesterday I made lemon meringue pie and a double batch of honey cookies.  A few of you have asked for the honey cookie recipe, so here we go....

Ingredients:

• 90 grams butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 155 grams self raising flour
• a good heaped tablespoon honey

Method:

• Cream butter/sugar
• Add the flour and honey - mix well
• Form a ball with the dough (teaspoon full) on a cooking tray, press down with a fork
• Bake approximately 12 minutes in a moderate oven

I always do a double or triple batch! The original recipe came from my Mum and used homemade raspberry jam (instead of honey) but one day I was out of jam, so gave the honey a whirl. 

Enjoy.