Hidden Dragon

Sure, it looks like an innocent Creaming Soda doesn't it? And it tastes tame too. But this innocent facade hides a hefty dragon punch of booze. It's the pre-mixed Grand Cosmopolitan by Smirnoff, mixed one part, with two parts generic lime lemonade (lime pop or soda for my Northern Hemispherian friends). And after three of them, you forget what the end of your sentence was by the time you get there.

Good stuff.

Bacon, Zucchini and Lime Penne

Based on this recipe from Taste.com.au, this unusual combination came about because I didn't have any lemons in the house. Likewise with the sour cream. It rained all this afternoon, so we had to make do. Luckily I had ranch dressing still in the house.

Bacon, Zucchini and Lime Penne
500g penne (or pasta of your choice)
250g shortcut rindless bacon rashers, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 large zucchini, thinly sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
zest and juice of one lime
2 Tbsp sour cream (or Ranch dressing)
grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water. Meanwhile, fry the bacon, garlic, onion and zucchini until golden. Add the zest and lime juice, stir through, and add the sour cream. Drain the pasta and add to the sauce. Serve with shaved parmesan cheese.

Warm Lime Pudding

Taste & Create time again, and this month I was partnered with Carol from No Reason Needed. Deep in her archives (Dec '07) I found a delicious sounding pudding, I thought perhaps might be what we call Self Saucing Pudding here in Australia (It wasn't). I don't usually have lemons around, but I've been on a lime kick lately, so I do have those. The recipe here for Warm Lemon Pudding is exactly what I used, only with (3) limes instead of lemons. It took longer to cook than I expected, perhaps because I used the bottom shelf of my oven, perhaps because it was supposed to be runnier than I thought. I eventually took it out of the oven when the top had set. Even after that, the middle was still goopy. I guess that's how it's meant to be.

Goopy, but delicious looking

I garnished it with a sifting of icing sugar, and a hefty sprinkle of hot chocolate mix, then each serve got a scoop of ice cream, and another sprinkle.

No extra sprinkle for Master One, his ice cream was too photogenic!

The chocolate and lime flavours made my tongue do a happy dance. It served all 5 of us, just. With ice cream. After a big dinner. It was filling, but I could have eaten more. It was kind of like inverse Chinese food - you can eat heaps while you are eating but feel so full 5 minutes later.

Kids Cooking Thursday: In-the-house Muffins

Something really easy and simple today for a change. This was from a recipe called 'Bells of St Clements Muffins' because the lime was supposed to be lemon. But I have limes in the house, and not lemons, and I had everything else in the house, so I wasn't going out to buy a lemon. Besides, I like limes, and the green is so cheery. With the low amount of sugar in these, I feel they are healthy enough to send to school with Master 5, whose school has a very strict healthy lunchbox policy. (Mind you there is plenty of rubbish on sale at the canteen! Chicken nuggets and biscuits and icy poles etc!)

In-the-house Citrus Muffins
2 cups SR flour
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 oranges
2 limes
1/3 cup oil
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place muffin paper cases into muffin pan.
Zest oranges and limes into a large bowl. Stir in flour and sugar.

I just missed a finger lick in this shot!

Juice the oranges and limes. (Master One loves to do this, with my hand on top of his, yelling "squee, squee!" - he has a little trouble with the zz sound still!) If you have less than 1 cup of juice (we did!) top up with any juice you might have in the fridge. Preferably orange, but apple will do. Combine juices, oil and eggs in a jug, whisk to combine. Pour liquid into dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

Master One having a ball - not doing much stirring though!

Spoon muffin mixture into muffin pans and bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

If you'd like to join in with Kids Cooking Thursday please leave a permalink to your own Kids Cooking Thursday post, as per the rules.



Don't forget today is your last chance to enter Kids In The Kitchen, training our next generation of food bloggers! ;)

Mango Lime Sorbet

This is a great recipe I got from Cooking of Joy. For once, I didn't change anything about the recipe at all. Normally, in Summer I would have simple syrup on hand in the fridge or freezer, to make ice cream at the drop of the hat, and then I would have made this without the lime zest. (Simple syrup being equal parts sugar and water, boiled together until the sugar dissolves, used in making sorbets and some fruity ice creams) That would have also made this a 'no cook' dish, which is perfect, because Padmajha over at Seduce Your Tastebuds is running a 'non cook' blog event. So pretend you have simple syrup in your fridge, because I don't want to break the rules (no stoves allowed) but this sorbet is too good not to share!

Mango Lime Sorbet (taken from Cooking of Joy)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Zest from one lime
3 ripe mangos (about 2 1/2 pounds)
1/2 cup lime juice
Pinch salt
3 tablespoons coconut rum

Heat the sugar, water, and lime zest in a medium saucepan until the sugar has completely dissolved. Set aside to cool.
Cut the flesh from the mangoes.
Put the mango pieces, sugar water, lime juice, and salt into a blender. Blend until completely smooth. Pour into a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until completely chilled.

When ready to put the chilled lime mango purée into your ice cream maker, mix in the rum. Process the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the ice cream maker directions. Transfer mixture to a plastic storage container and freeze in your freezer until firm, at least 6 hours.

This makes a very luscious, fruity, refreshing ice treat, that is perfect for family in their underwear on the couch, or friends enjoying a drink or three on a muggy hot night out on the deck, alike. I'm actually quite sad that this is all gone. The mangos I used were squashy and over ripe, marked down ( that's why I bought them) and not only were they bursting with flavour, they had a kind of 'fizzy' quality to the tongue when you ate them. Which brought a whole new layer of awesomeness to this dish. Yes, I know, they had probably started fermenting, but that certainly didn't bother me any!

This was an entry for the 'no cook event' over at Seduce Your Tastebuds

Mother's delicious homecooked Pluto.

My kids just got Here Come Science by They Might Be Giants. All three love watching the dvd together, and it keeps them from completely being at each other's throats. As an introduction to the song How Many Planets? Old John was telling a story about how when he was younger, they remembered the names of the planets by saying 'My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas'. But now Pluto is longer a planet, they say 'My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nothing' "and we can longer enjoy the taste of Mother's delicious homecooked Pluto." That makes my kids giggle. So when I heard that intro today while these pizzas were in the oven, I knew what I was calling them.

When I saw this recipe for Funky Lime Pizza on the Menu Plan Monday at Pass The Beans Please I just had to try it. I loved the bright fresh flavours. The eldest two children didn't like the lime or feta, and Master One refused to take more than a single bite, making me get out the emergency Heinz can of pasta. DP thought it would have been ok without the lettuce on it. (He meant the coriander). This is what I get for cooking something innovative and "fancy". Well pfft to them. I loved it, and wasn't particularly phased that I ate almost a whole pizza to myself either.

Homecooked Pluto
pizza dough (or use your own favourite recipe)
500g grated Mozzarella
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
1/2 large zucchini, thinly sliced
1/2 cup frozen corn kernals
1 1/2 tsp of minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
feta cheese, crumbled
fresh coriander leaves, coarsely chopped
juice of 1 lime

Preheat oven to 230C. Cover two baking trays with baking paper. Divide your dough in half, and roll each half out to the size of your tray. Miss Three helped me with the rolling.

Here she is "rolling" out the zucchini too!

Leave a margin about an inch wide around the dough then sprinkle the bases with about half the mozzarella. Then top with onion, then zucchini. Miss Three quite liked this too. Then sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on the top. Add your corn kernals, and some crumbled feta, and little dobs of minced garlic. Mine came from a jar. Because the last four bags of garlic I've bought have ended up shrivelled empty husks right when I want to use them. I don't think we eat as much garlic as we used to. I digress. Bake for 8 minutes, then swap the bottom tray to the top shelf, and vice versa, and bake for another 8 minutes. Until the cheese is melted to your desired colour. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush the pizza rims with a little olive oil, squeeze over your lime juice, and scatter the coriander over the top.

This is a bit of a 'foodie' meal, so perhaps one to use more for Date night than Kids demanding pizza night. Unless your kids are foodies, or at least very fond of sharp flavours like lime and feta.

This was an entry for the Pizza Party Mix Up hosted by Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations. Happy 2nd Blogversary!








Don't forget to think (and cook!) pink for the Virtual Night In, raising money and awareness for Breast Cancer Research.