Pumpkin, Feta and Basil Pizza

Food ... I love it! How about you?

I don't usually take the time to take pictures of my food, instead I am too busy scoffing it down.

The other week when I was grabbing a few things from our grocery shop around the corner and saw pumpkin, feta and basil pizzas in their ready made food fridge section and thought to myself, YUM.

So instead of buying one I spent more than the pizza cost on ingredients, some I had planned to get anyway, and decided to make it myself. So lunch for one, here we come.

Ingredients:

A wrap (I used a spinach one)

A slice of pumpkin

A section of capsicum

A bit of feta  

Basil

Hummus 

Sweet Chilli Sauce

Method:

1. Cut the pumpkin, capsicum and basil into small pieces.

2. Spread a small amount hummus on half of the wrap and then fold the wrap in half with the hummus in the middle.

3. Spread some more hummus on the top of your folded wrap.

4. Sprinkle all the chopped ingredients on the top of the wrap.

5. Crumble feta over the top.

6. Drizzle some sweet chilli sauce over the top.

7. Put on a tray in the oven and cook at 180 degreesC until browned and pumpkin is cooked.

 

 

I'd say this serves one but obviously you could used two wraps sandwiched together to make it for two.

My tip would be to cut the pumpkin into really little pieces so it cooks fast or to pre cook it.

A variation I have done since then has spinach on it.

I enjoyed this for lunch and have enjoyed it a few more times since. 

Obviously recipe writing is not my forte, especially as I didn't measure a thing for this, I just made it. That tends to be a theme in my cooking, just make it.

Do you have any good lunch ideas for one?

Gingerbread Shapes and a touch of Christmas

Gingerbread Shapes

125g butter

½ cup lightly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup golden syrup

1 egg

2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup self-raising flour

2 tablespoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon cardamom

½ teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

Icing

1 egg white

½ teaspoon lemon juice

1 cup pure icing sugar

Food colourings

Gingerbread

1.      Beat butter, sugar and golden syrup until light and creamy. Add egg and beat well.

2.      Add flours, spices & bi-carb soda – recipe says to use a knife to just mix – I use the beaters and mix.

3.      Knead gently (reportedly if you knead too much it becomes tough).

4.      Cover a baking tray with baking paper (I use two trays or three for a double mix).

5.      Roll out until 5mm thick. Place on baking trays and refrigerate for 15min.

6.      Cut out shapes & place onto lined baking trays – the dough is easier to handle when jus t out of the fridge, if it is a hot day you might want to chill again before moving shapes.

7.      Bake at 180°C for 10 min or until just colouring.

8.      Cool on trays – or as I do, transfer to cooling rack when solid/cool enough to move because you need the tray for the next batch.

Icing

1.      Beat egg white until soft peaks form

2.      Add lemon juice & icing sugar gradually.

3.      Transfer to small bowls to colour if using more than one colour.

4.      Use icing bags to decorate.

A huge thanks goes out to my Aunt for this recipe that occupied part of my morning. Between a crazy quick race to the shops for something they still didn't have and a snooze, oh and work. I can testify to their tastiness and I am sure my work mate would have too if the gingerbread stars had made it off the kitchen bench and into the car, as intended.

I can hardly believe it is the 24th of December already. Tomorrow it is Christmas day!

My Christmas Eve is calling on an old family carol watching tradition with lights twinkling in the house. I am missing having the family around and singing along but I will sing along all the same as I am sure they are. See we are still singing together. 

What is your favourite Christmas carol or song? I do love 'So this is Christmas' but then I also love many of the more traditional carols like 'Silent Night', 'Angels we have Heard on High', 'Oh Holy Night' and the list could go on and on. I also happily get on board with the Aussie version of well known Christmas songs and carols. So I am going to go back to watching carols with a festive beverage while nibbling on some tasty stars and maybe other goodies I have stashed after cooking.

 

What do you do on Christmas Eve? What are you must do traditions?

 

Also, just in case I don't get to it tomorrow, many good wishes for Christmas. May your day be filled with love, hope, joy, peace and may this carry though into the new year.

Merry Christmas!

My go-to recipe

I have a few go to recipes, according to the situation. 

If it calls for something sweet and snacky in a hurry I'd go for scones or pikelets or just pull out a packet of biccies. If I have a little more time I go for this good old chocolate cake recipe. Actually I whipped one up on Monday for Mr Sparky who then didn't eat any even though it was he who requested cake. It went to work with him today.

If I need a more substantial meal, usually I just slap something together. I usually have salad stuff and you can do a lot with that. A good go-to for a slap together dinner would be spaghetti bolognese, with jar sauce of cause. If we have recently had corned beef or something similar cold meat fitters are a definite maybe. They also happened over the weekend. 

Cold Meat Fritters

from the Commonsense Cookery Book

350g leftover cooked meat (I usually use corned beef)

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1/2 tsp salt (optional in recipe, I don't put it in)

Pepper to taste

1 cup SR flour

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

A little lemon juice

oil

I usually also add corn kernels, onion, chives, any other herbs or seasoning I feel like. I sometimes add tomato, and I think you could prob use frozen or tinned vege in them if you want. The ones pictured have corned beef, onion, herbs, corn and sundried tomatoes in them.

1. Dice meat

2. Place into a bowl with dry ingredients and herbs.

3. Beat egg, combine with milk and lemon juice and blend into dry mixture to form dropping consistency.

4. Heat sufficient oil to cover the surface of the pan.

5. Drop 1 tbsp of meat mixture into the oil and allow to brown. Turn and brown other side.

6. Drain on absorbent paper towel.

Now I am a slap dash cook so I just chuck all the ingredients into a bowl and mix. I also cook several at a time and probably bigger than in the recipe. I also put mine in the oven while cooking more just to avoid the cold fritter or uncooked middle problems. We often eat them with relish or chutney.

To be completely honest, on those afternoons when I end up having about an hour between jobs I just pull a bit of steak out of the freezer and throw it in the fry pan and chop some vege into a pot and boil them. If am am completely sick of that style of meal I might go for one of Mr Sparky's specialties and boil some pasta, stir through tomato soup and top with cheese. Now that is simple cooking.

4 Ingredients: Vanilla Slice

This is one I had sitting on the back burner for that day when I had not blogged in a while and needed to fill in the space or something like that. Basically it was done the same time as my last cooking post and I didn't want to do overkill on the foody blogging.
 

I had the urge for vanilla slice, or lattice slice or something like that. I wanted to eat some of that yummy, creamy, vanilla-eryness. Then up on Facebook popped a recipe for Easy Everyday Vanilla Slice from one of the 4 Ingredients cookbooks. Well I was naughty and I made it, just for me, just because.

 Now let me warn you that this is NOT and everyday slice as the title suggests, unless you wish to be the size of a house, but it is very tasty and creamy and just what I wanted.

You can find the recipe here. It is super simple and tasty. 

I used a square cake pan for it. It fit nicely, nine lattice biccies on the bottom and top (well okay there was a bit of room to spare but close enough). I also used Cottees pudding which is 100g and put the whole thing in.

 I am having a terrible problem with being a sweet tooth at the moment but am trying to work on not giving in to it. This was giving in to it and I may or may not have eaten the whole lot solo. Back to working on not being such a sweet tooth.

Tasty Tuesday: Lemon Sago

A couple of weekends ago while up on the Tablelands we got to house sit overnight at the same farm from back here. It was quiet, peaceful and wet.

At this place there is a lemon tree next to the house that at the moment is overflowing with fruit. I love lemons, cooking with lemons and eating lemon flavoured foods and Mr Sparky loves Lemon Sago (so do I).

We already had sago or seed tapioca in the pantry and along with some lemons and other ingredients we were both pretty satisfied on the Lemon Sago front ... so satisfied I made it again.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sago
600ml water
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp golden syrup
Rind of 1/2 a lemon
Juice of 2 lemons

Method:

1. Place sago and water in saucepan and boil until transparent, stirring occasionally.

2. Remove from stove and add lemon juice, rind, sugar and syrup.

3. Mix well.



4. Pour into a mould/ bowl to set

5. Serve with custard or ice cream or just eat it solo.

 

I love my lemon sago by itself or with ice cream.
How do you like yours?
What is your favourite flavoured sago?

I love this recipe because it works ... and it has gotten the Mr Sparky tick of approval. When I suggested trying another recipe his very fast reply was 'I like that one, make it again.' Well that I can do in fact probably will do again, and again and again ... well at least until the lemons run out.

This recipe is from the Corner Country Cookbook from the Boulia, Bedourie and Birdsville ICPA.
Do you have any great sago recipes?

Note: It will seem like it will never happen but the sago will go transparent and usually pretty close to all at once. If a few bits aren't transparent it doesn't really matter they will just be a little chewy.

Tasty Tuesday ... On Friday: Marble Cake

Just for the fun of it early one morning last week I whipped up a marble cake which was devoured on the weekend by all on the Tablelands. It was pretty tasty I must say.

Marble Cake

Ingredients:

500g butter (166g)
3 cups caster sugar (1 cup)
6 cups SR flour (2 cups)
1tbsp vanilla essence (1tsp+)
6 eggs (2 eggs)
2 cups milk (2/3 cup)
1/2 cup coco powder (a bit)
Pink food colouring

 

Method

1. Grease a 26cmx36cm baking dish/ line with baking paper.
2. Beat butter, vanilla essence and sugar until fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined. 
4. Stir in sifted flour and milk in two batches.
5. Divide mixture evenly among three bowls and tint one portion pink then stir coco and a little extra milk into another.
6. Drop large spoonfuls of each mixture into the prepared pan then run a knife or skewer through the mixture for a marble effect.
7. Cook in a moderate oven 180*C for about 1hr or until cooked when tested.
8. Stand cake and cool before icing or dusting with icing sugar.

 

I only made 1/3 of this mixture to make the cake above (approx 20cmx20cm)
 

 

I then made chocolate icing for my marble cake and sprinkled it with pink sprinkles.

 

 

This recipe was found in the smoko section of the Corner Country Cooking book from the Boulia, Bedourie and Birdsville ICPA.

 

 

Tasty Tuesday: Fluffy Omelette

 Another of Mr Sparky's favourites is omelettes but not just any omelet ... fluffy omelette. Having this for breakfast seems to be our special Saturday thing and not only that but sometimes he will make it. He just hates separating the eggs. He even experimented with cooking one in the oven which was surprisingly a success but as Mr Sparky decreed maybe next time it would work better if the oven was hot first.



What you need:

Eggs
Herbs
Anything else you want to put in like cheese, bacon, tomato, capsicum (these are our staple ingredients)

What to do:

1. Chop up everything ... except the eggs. It is better if all the ingredients to be added are ready to go when the egg whites are done.
 

 

2. Separate the desired number of eggs putting the whites in a clean and non oily mixing bowl and the yolks somewhere else to use in a bit. Make sure there is no yolk in with the whites if unsure about doing this it is sometimes good to separate the white from the egg into a cup and then add it into the bowl, one at a time.
 

  

 

3. Beat the whites until stiff which means beat them til they hold their shape or when the top is touched by something that is then taken away it leaves a peak or a little egg white mountain in your fluffy terrain.

 

 

4. Add all the remaining ingredients including the egg yolks to the egg whites and mix it all in.
 

 

5. Pour into a warm fry pan. I have worked out they cook better really slow so it will take some patience. When the omelette feels solid (no egg sticks to your finger) it is ready. Serve it up.
 

6. Dish it up and eat. Yummy and healthy ;)

Woops sorry we were hungry and I forgot a cooked photo. The bottom should be golden brown. You can flip it if you want, I just fold it in half.

Note: If you get sidetracked after beating the whites and there are no other ingredients in with them and the whites start to separate (liquid at the bottom, fluff on top) don't worry, just beat them up again.