Christmas Eve Dinner - PIZZA!!

a little bit more pre-christmas eating! We had Pizza from Pizza Capers......



BONANZA


 pizza sauce with smoke house pepperoni, marinated rump of Black Angus beef, shaved ham, with mozzarella, smoked bacon, garnished with fresh herbs (Janets choice)




RUSTIC FRUIT & VEG mushrooms, onions, capsicum, pineapple, on a bed of ricotta topped with roasted roma tomatoes, garlic, herbs and cheese  (my choice - YUM!)







Italian Connection


Pizza sauce with smokehouse pepperoni, mozzarella, Kalamata olives, slow roasted tomatoes, fire roasted capsicum, red onions, parmesan, fresh garlic & herbs (not sure if this is the right one, but its my best guess!! This was Scott's choice)



VEGETARIAN


Our pizza sauce with loads of fresh, sliced button mushrooms, Kalamata olives, fire roasted capsicum, Spanish onions, golden pineapple, fresh garlic & herbs, garnished with parmesan (Gina's Choice)




THE ALGERIAN


Capers’ pizza sauce, topped with chorizo, fire roasted capsicum, Kalamata olives, baby bocconcini, garnished with cherry tomatoes, fresh garlic & herbs (Mum & Dad's choice)


For dessert, we had red jelly and icecream!!!!! Which I neglected to photograph in my excitement!!!!





We also had some of these Darrel Lea Christmas nougat's - we were guessing what flavours they were, as te box didn't have a picture guide to help us out!

Meringues - or how to use up egg whites!

As part of my pre-christmas cooking, I made some Vanilla icecream - this required 6 egg yolks, which left me with egg whites to use up! So I went the easy route, and made some meringues, and some mini pavlovas!

There is a "basic meringue recipe" here at taste.com.au .  I just adjusted the quantities.


To make the meringues, I just piped swirls onto the trays.....




For the pavlovas, I piped nests!(kind of wobbly nests, but nests all the same!). 




I filled the cooled nests with raspberry cream, and topped with a raspberry. (to make raspberry cream, I used the cream that I had leftover from making my icecream! - I simply whipped it to soft peaks, added a little bit of icing sugar and some "crumbs" from the bottom of the frozen raspberry packet! )

Christmas! - lunch #1 - pre-christmas!

December hits, and the eating season is upon us! Now that it is infact January, and I have had a small break from all the eating, I think I can manage to revisit some of the meals enjoyed over the festive season!

Christmas Lunch number one was actually held prior to Christmas, think of it as training for the stomach :-)




My contribution was this couscous, chickpea and pumpkin salad.  Its a made up recipe - I think I used half a cup of couscous. To this I added 1/2 cup of boiling water, a couple of teaspoons of "Christine Manfield Harissa" and the zest of an orange. Put a lid on it and let it sit for 5 minutes.  Once the cous cous was done, I fluffed it with a fork, gave it a squeeze of orange juice and a splash of Olive Oil and tossed through a tin of chickeas, some roasted pumpkin (simply roasted in the oven), some diced red capsicum and some chopped baby spinach. DELICIOUS!!





We also had this tomato, basil & yoghurt cheese salad, dressed with balsamic vinegar,




a tossed green salad,





This chicken that looks like it was run over (it comes mostly deboned and marinated from the butcher),



and some stuffed roast beef.





For dessert I made Nigella's "Gleaming Maple Cheesecake" from Nigella Lawsons "Christmas" book.  I have wanted to make this ever since I first set eyes on it when I first read the book! There is a copy of the recipe over at not quite nigella . I was very happy with the way the cheesecake turned out! Tasted mighty good also :-)