Blogging By Mail...

Lots of goodies

My BBM parcel arrived today, and I was most excited to get it home open it up. I love getting suprise parcels - hell, I love getting any mail at all, (except of course those letters with windows in front!) so even when I am expecting something, and know what's inside, a package for me is a big excitement. My gifter was Lauren from I'll Eat You and she gave me a stack of neat things, as you can see in the above photo.

Bacon flavoured chocolate!

The first thing I saw when I opened the box was this bar of bacon flavoured chocolate. I'd heard about this ages ago somewhere in the blogosphere, and had wanted to try it, but the particular website I got linked to either didn't ship overseas, or was charging more than I could justify on chocolate to do so. I can't remember. What I do remember is wanting to try it, and getting laughed at by my housemate and weird looks from my partner. So I guess now I don't have to share! I've always loved sweet and salty, so I'm looking forward to cracking into this.

Also I got a really cute spatula, perfect for Kids Cooking Thursdays. I'm sure my two eldest will appreciate that you thought of them Lauren! And since Master Four will be starting school next year, the little Cupcake Caddy will be great in his lunchbox - it's a plastic cake box that exactly fits one cupcake, how cool is that?

Somehow Lauren picked up on the fact that I'm a sucker for American candy, and included a pack of Mike & Ike's, Peanut Chews and Mallo Cups. They are all made near the city she lives in, as are the Herrs potato chips. (And yes, we have Salt & Vinegar flavour here - it happens to be my favourite flavour! lol)

Ghiradelli chocolate and Blueberry-Lime jam

I've heard lots and lots of people says how good Ghiradelli chocolate is, and now that I've tasted some, I'm almost upset that Lauren sent it to me. Because I know it's not likely that I'll be buying it online often (if that's even possible) and I extremely doubt I could find it for sale over here. Which is a damn shame, because my oh my is this chocolate goooooood. It's 60% cocoa, but it doesn't have the bitter taste I've come to associated with very dark chocolate. It had a very deep strong chocolate flavour, without being bitter, and a very deep sweetness. It had almost a fruitiness to the chocolate flavour, and I really think I need to start spending more on chocolate, if this is what the good stuff tastes like. Maybe I could set up an exchange program, fancy chocolate for Tim Tams anyone?

The other item next to the chocolate is Blueberry-Lime jam which sounds like an awesome combination. I think I'll have to have some of that on lunch tomorrow.

The green box at the back of the top photo is really neat. It's a mint plant/seedling... sealed inside an eggshell! You crack the top off, and water it, and the plant grows. How cool is that?

And last, but not least, is some Olivier herbed salt. Lauren and her husband use this all the time apparently, and I know how that goes. Whenever you get a new herb or spice you try it in everything, and everything seems to go with it! And I'm definately with Stephanie... I never thought I'd be someone who get excited by salt, but now I know better. Vanilla beans too. I'm a sucker for fancy ingredients, even if you don't see me cook with them a lot. Unfortunately, I cater not to you, my audience, or even to my own tastes, but to DP who likes simple food, and to two preschoolers, who will eat the fancier stuff, but let's face it, with sun-dried tomatoes at $20 a kilo, it's not really something you let a 3yo snack on! Still it's nice to play grownup once in a while, and don't for a second think the kids are getting anywhere near my new chocolate stash! Perhaps I'll let them share the Mike & Ike's. Maybe.
Blogging By Mail is hosted every so often at Dispensing Happiness. I don't know how often, so maybe you should just follow the blog, it's a great read anyway!

Slow Cooking Thursday - Yummy Chicken

I was going to make Creamy Chicken and Noodles today, but I didn't have the soups or noodles, and I've been trying to cut back a little on the spending. But I had a tin of condensed Tomato soup, so I thought I'd wing it. (no pun intended!)
I put the soup and 1 cup of homemade chicken stock (see here) in the bottom of my slow cooker, and mixed them together. I placed 5 chicken thighs (500g) on top, and liberally sprinkled them with Lemon Myrtle. I turned the cooker onto LOW, and then went and fed my four month old his breakfast. When I came back about half an hour later, I chopped 6 medium potatoes into eighths, and a medium onion into small wedges. I threw these in the slow cooker and gave it a stir to coat. And sprinkled in more Lemon Myrtle. Then I let it sit for another 7 hours. About 5 or 10 minutes before serving, I threw in a few handfuls each of frozen corn, peas, and green beans. They cooked perfectly without having to defrost, and they didn't go mushy or grey. Master Four emptied his plate in ten minutes. I think this is one for the remake list!
Sandra over at Diary of a Stay At Home Mom hosts Slow Cooking Thursdays, so go have a look for more slow cooked deliciousness!

Kids Cooking Thursday: Strawberry jelly cake

Today we made another Strawberry Cake, this time a variation on the jelly and cake mix theme from Little Ivy Cakes, whom I was partnered with for this month's Taste & Create. I'll let you check out the recipe here on her site, so you can drool over all her other gorgeous cupcakes while you are there. I only made a few changes, I used a whole punnet of chopped strawberries, because I'd thawed the whole punnet, and I added an extra Tbsp of jelly crystals because I used extra virgin olive oil (the only oil in the house) and then the batter didn't smell like strawberries anymore. Everything was going fine until the very last ingredient, the water. I think, had I not added that, it would have been perfect.

Instead, after 25 mins, the cake looked cooked, but when I pulled the shelf out of the oven to check, it wobbled inside! The middle was still liquid, under a thin crust. So I cut the top bit off and mixed it through the centre, turned the oven up to 200°C (from 180°C) and put it back in for another ten minutes. I then did the same thing and put it back in for five minutes, and then another five. Curse my non-fan-forced oven! It didn't look pretty, but it was cooked.

Then, I tried to be clever with the icing, using a recipe I saw in delicious. magazine. But it was a lamington recipe, so the icing turned out to be more of a glaze. I chose that because it had strawberry jelly in it too. So the combination of the runny jelly icing, and the rough, 'openness' of the top of the cake, turned this into a sort of "Poke" cake I guess. Which would have been fine, except the middle was already kinda super moist. I chopped up five of the strawberry October Tim Tams (the pink ribbon ones - man I love those!) and scattered them across the top. It looked nicer than the crummy camera on my phone could cope with. The inside doesn't look so nice, but it tasted great.

Loved the chopped Strawberry Tim Tams on top!

And after all that, Miss Two has changed her mind and decided she wants a blueberry cake with pink icing for her birthday. I think I may scream.
Please leave a permalink to your own Kids Cooking Thursday post, as per the rules, and remember, if you don't leave a comment, that's fine, but I have no way of knowing you've left a link otherwise!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday Lemon Chicken with rice
Tuesday Vegetarian Fettucine
Wednesday Freezer Suprise (or Pizza)
Thursday Creamy Chicken & Noodles (slow cooker)
Friday Potato & Tomato Bake
Saturday Sausage Rolls
Sunday Sandwiches

Sunday is a birthday party afternoon tea, and it's an hour drive away, so I don't think anyone will want much more than a light dinner.

As usual check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for literally hundreds of other menu plan blog posts, and don't forget to come back here for Kids Cooking Thursday.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday Chicken Parmagianas with pasta
Tuesday Freezer Suprise
Wednesday Chicken and Leek Lasagna
Thursday Sweet & Sour Pork(slow cooker)
Friday Calzones
Saturday Cauliflower Soup
Sunday Big lunch at ILs so sandwiches for tea

Starting tomorrow, I'll be making an effort to blog more regularly again. I may blog tonight, but it's just Parmagianas and pasta, and that's something I've done so many times before. DP was telling me he'd like Parmas at least once a fortnight, and since it's reheatable, just because he's not home for dinner time anymore, I don't why I can't still oblige. So be prepared for Chicken Parmas to show up in some form or another every second week.

As usual check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for literally hundreds of other menu plan blog posts, and don't forget to come back here for Kids Cooking Thursday.

Kids Cooking Thursday: The "sick" edition

Things have been a little manic around here this week. DP starts his new job today, and all three kids were sick for the last two days. Those of you who have been reading for a while know that Master Four almost always ends up in hospital every time he gets so much as a cold (damn asthma!) so I'm very proud he managed to avoid that this time. We're not completely out of the woods yet, so no cooking today, but I thought I'd leave the Mr Linky up for anyone who is cooking today, or has lovely school holiday cooking posts to link up.

Here is the recipe for what we were going to cook anyway, Coconut Ice. We might get to this another day. Truth be told, if I'd had a chance to go out and buy marshmallows, I reckon we probably could have made this this afternoon anyway.

Please leave a permalink to your own Kids Cooking Thursday post, as per the rules, and remember, if you don't leave a comment, that's fine, but I have no way of knowing you've left a link otherwise!

Menu Plan Monday

Monday Leftovers
Tuesday Steak + Salad Rolls (homemade rolls)
Wednesday Empanadas
Thursday Easy Chicken and Potatoes (slow cooker)
Friday Potato & Tomato Bake
Saturday Croquettes
Sunday Picnic on the waterfront

Bit of a slack week this week, but I'm making some changes with how I organise my home and schedule, so I want to have dinners fairly easy until I get into the swing of the new schedule. More to come on that soon, but in the meantime, if you haven't read the simple mom blog then you really should take a look. She doesn't make it all sound so easy, but she makes it sound so do-able. Do-able I like. Because if someone makes it all sound too easy, then I feel worse when I can't do it. I love her no frills approach to things, so much so that it's the only non-cooking blog I follow on a weekly basis.

As usual check out I'm an Organizing Junkie for literally hundreds of other menu plan blog posts, and don't forget to come back here for Kids Cooking Thursday

Slow Cooking Thursday - Ham and Scalloped Potatoes

This evening's recipe came from tastycrockpotrecipes.net and it was great. The simplest recipe, yet it tasted 'just like a bought one'. My only problem was that I sliced the potatoes too thickly, so some of them didn't cook. But it's ok, because I served this with broccoli and garlic bread, so there was plenty to eat, and I'm sure I can think of something to do with semi-cooked potatoes in awesomely cheesy, creamy sauce. Or you can. Can't you?

Sandra over at Diary of a Stay At Home Mom hosts Slow Cooking Thursdays, so go have a look for more slow cooked deliciousness!

Kids Cooking Thursday: Strawberry cupcakes

Sadly just a box mix today, as I wanted to try out the Strawberry Baby Cakes box mix to see if it would suit for Miss Two's third birthday cake. Some of you may remember that she asked for a "blue" party, and a "Strawberry cake with blue icing". Well, the party has now been upgraded to Pink and Blue, because her favourite colour is now pink lol. But the cake request remains the same. I'm a bit iffy on these. They tasted liked strawberry bubblegum when raw, and only slightly better cooked. I did like the tiny cupcake option, since most kids don't eat much (if any cake) after licking off the icing, but I'd need more than the 18 that this box yields. If anyone has a great strawberry cake recipe they'd like to share, we'd be happy to try it! (PLEASE!) I'd prefer a strawberry flavour in the mix itself, but more than likely will add in extra fruit pieces to that as well.

Please leave a permalink to your own Kids Cooking Thursday post, as per the rules, and remember, if you don't leave a comment, that's fine, but I have no way of knowing you've left a link otherwise!

Cannelloni

DP cooked tonight, so I got the night off. Here is the recipe he used, it's from San Remo Apparently it's the wrong recipe, but all he told me was "It's the one on the back of the box". How was I supposed to know he wanted the spinach and ricotta recipe but to switch the spinach and ricotta for mince? That doesn't exactly make it easy for me to make the shopping list up. But then, I wasn't a huge fan of the old recipe either. Must find a new meat and tomato based cannelloni recipe. Anyone got any ideas?

You got a recipe tonight, so it wasn't really a lazy dinner night post, but I'm feeling lazy, so you can have a link anyway.

Cake Wrecks - it's funny because they're true!