Dinner from a packet - Cream of Leek & Pasta Soup

We bought this packet of soup mix back from Canada way back in April 2008, so I thought it was time to actually use it. (we bought some for my Mum who had requested it as a Canadian friend had given her a recipe for dip using this soup).

So I made us a lazy weekend dinner with it....

I mixed up the soup as per the packet directions, and then threw in some cute little mini penne, which cooks in 6 minutes....

and there we go - soup with pasta. It was quite tasty in that made from a packet sort of way :-)

A Wedding Feast

Chocolate Coca Cola Cake

I saw this recipe in a book I borrowed from the Library - "Sue Lawrence's Book of Baking", and just had to try it.....it turned out well - a deliciously moist chocolate cake.... (co-incidentally, we got home today after buying a new dvd player, and I popped in the "Nigella" dvd, which wouldn't play on our other dvd player, and Nigella made a version of this same cake....)

Chocolate Coca-Cola Cake from "Sue Lawrences Book of Baking"

250g Self Raising Flour

3 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda

280g caster sugar (recipe actually calls for golden caster sugar, but I haven't seen that anywhere)

250g Butter
250ml Coca-Cola

100ml milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

for the icing
150g butter
50ml Coca-Cola
3 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder
400g icing sugar (again recipe calls for golden icing sugar)

Preheat oven to 180 c, and prepare a 24cm springform cake tin (I lined it with baking paper)

Sift flour, cocoa and bicarb into a large bowl.

Slowly melt butter and cola in a saucepan, then slowly add this to the dry ingredients along with the milk, eggs and vanilla, stirring all the time.

Once thoroughly but gently combined, pour mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean (it took a little longer than 40 minutes in my oven).  Leave in tin on a wirewrack for about 10 minutes, then remove from tin.  Allow to cool completely.

To make the icing : melt butter along with cola and cocoa in a saucepan.  Pour this mixture into the icing sugar and beat until smooth.  Ice the cooled cake.  I decorated the cake with coke bottle lollies.

Dinner at home - Puffy Omlette

We had eggs that needed using, and I had just been reading Donna Hay's "The Instant Cook" in which I saw a recipe for a rather delicious looking "puffy cheese and spinach omlette".  Now having no spinach meant that my omlette was lacking in the greenery, but still worked out quite nicely....

Puffy Cheese and no Spinach Omlette with bacon & not-bacon (adapted from the instant cook by Donna Hay)

Serves 2 (1 vegetarian, 1 meat eater)

4 eggs, separated

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 tbs parmesan cheese

sea salt & cracked black pepper

10g butter

1 rasher of bacon, chopped

1 rasher of not-bacon, chopped

Fry bacon & not-bacon separately until each is crispy. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Place the egg yolks, milk, cheese, salt & pepper into a bowl and mix.

Place the egg whites in another bowl and whisk to soft peaks, then fold through the egg yolk mixture.

Heat a 24cm non stick frying pan, add butter, when butter melted and pan is hot, pour in egg mixture.  Cook over low heat for 10 minutes until base is golden.  Sprinkle one half with not bacon and the other half with bacon.  Carefully fold the omlette in half. Cut into 2 and serve with some toast.

Cofresh Madras Curry

I made up this vegie curry using a jar of Cofresh Madras Curry Simmer Sauce. It certainly packed quite a punch (it does have a symbol of 3 chillis on the side, so perhaps that should have tipped me off....).  I would have loved some yoghurt to dollop on top to take away some of the heat! Other than the hot-factor, it was very tsty - I simply cooked up a bunch of vegies - capsicum, corn, broadbeans, onion, sweet potato, pumpkin and a can of chick peas and mixed in the sauce, and then simmered till the vegies were cooked.  I had to put in a little water also, because the sauce wasn't saucy enough for my liking! Served with some rice, it made for a tasty dinner (plus there are left overs in the freezer for another day)

Jeya

We finally have our Jeya back to being bandage and bucket-head free! It took a while.... She had to have a lump removed from her foot.  The surgery went fine, but when we took her back a few days later, some of the stitches had pulled apart a bit. They thought it would be ok, thogh and told us to come back a gian a few days later. THis time, some of the stitches had come out, so they bandaged her foot up with a lovely red bandage, which we had to keep dry by putting a sock over it.  A week later, we went back for a new bandage - pink this time, and then finally the bandage came off and all was well.

Wedding Card

I made this card for John & Kara - I first tried to draw some penguins. I really suck at drawing, so I googled how to daw a pengiuin (taking a leaf from my Mum's book who previously googles how to draw a teapot!) I then traced the penguin drawing from the screen.  And it still looked crap. So I turned on my brain and did something I am good at - cutting up cardboard! Some black, white & orange cardboard and a few googlie eyes later and we had penguins!

Vegie Garden

I am starting to get hopeful that I may finally get something other than peas & chilli's to grow to the edible stage in my vegie garden.....

the squash are beginning to flower.....

the eggplant are turning purple

and my cherry tomatoes are beginning to blush!

Fingers crossed they survive!!

Vegie Burger Sandwich

A rather tall vegie burger sandwich that I ate for dinner.  With a Sanitarium Not-Burger, Tomato, beetroot, Avocado & Grated Rainbow Salad from Woolies. Delicious! I mostly make a burger without the bread, but sometimes bread is a necessity! YUM!!

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Simon & Kristy's engagement party was a Mad Hatters Tea Party at New Farm Park. There were many fancily-dressed people! Most impressive with the costumes.... and the food was extremely plentiful!.....

cupcakes!

Lollies!!

There was even Fairy-bread!

many many delicious fresh sandwiches - Janet loved the chicken ones.

mmmmm. marshmallow, strawberry & chocolate kebabs!!

Fruity kebabs for a healthier choice (yummy!!)

A most spectacular looking chocolate cake

This was the biggest pile of pikelets I ever saw in my life..... we were wondering who had spent so many hours cooking them, until Kristy told us they were from Coles. They were delicious!

mmmmmm jam & cream...

Pavlova!!

I think the Ibis may have been a little confused by the flamingos