making a pot of sweet potato chilie and trying to find my granola recipe. did a tasty batch of garlic rosemary croûtons earlier, they are super easy.

GARLIC ROSEMARY CROÛTONS
thinly slice 1 baguette(i use the par baked ones, if you can score stale ones from the store even better.) try and get the slices like 1/4 of an inch kind of thin. the thinner the better.
lay the slices out on a baking tray
brush olive oil over the tops with a pastry brush
sprinkle garlic powder, parsley flakes, rosemary, sea salt and black pepper over top of the slices
bang in the oven and cook until golden brown

great with soup. i give them to my kid when he wants a snack. you can crunch them up and sprinkle over baked homemade mac and cheese too- very tasty.

what if you don't have a pastry brush? in a large bowl pour in some olive oil and the rest of the listed ingredients, dump the bread slices in and mix everything around with a spoon. this method works a bit better when making stale bagel croûtons.
when cool store in an airtight container.

guess what- chicken butt. i don't have a recipe for that. yes it's been awhile. i've been busy doing the art thing. still cooking up a storm i just don't have time to post all the treats. right now i'm off to eat some cheesecake and then back to house work. will try to post more in the new year. promise

yes, it's been awhile i know. things are busy over here. i have like 2 online shops and 4 different blogs plus a 3year old to take care of. eventually i'll post here more, probably after christmas. i have been cooking up a storm as always. my new thing is making jam. i've made pineapple lime and strawberry/lime/mint recently. they were awesome. i had a request for chili so here you go.
i've used this recipe to make a good sweet potato chili
it needs some adjustments that i don't have time to post right now. you also don't need a crock pot, i just do mine in a pot on the stove.

beef chili
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ground beef- two fists full
1 small onion chopped
1/2 pepper(any color) chopped
1 can chopped tomato
1 can kidney beans
beef stock cube
chili powder
garlic powder/onion powder
tomato paste

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list of optional things
ground cumin
chipotle flakes
lime juice- splash
cayenne pepper
can of beer
fresh chopped garlic
cilantro flakes
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medium heat your pot with a little oil, add the beef, onions and peppers, stir around. you want to brown the meat. when the meat is about half way cooked, add all your spices/seasonings. when the meat is good and brown add the beans, tomato paste and tomatoes. now you can either add a tomato can worth of water or a tomato can worth of beer. turn the heat down to low and let simmer on the stove for a few hours. when it's nice and thick, eat. make a box of jiffy corn bread to go with it.
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with  your spices you want about a tablespoon of the chili powder and 1/2 teaspoons of the other stuff. go easy on the cayenne pepper, just a super tiny amount if you don't like spicy food.
i usually get 4 servings, freezes great

i'm on vacation, back in novemberish

yes i'm still here and yes i'm cooking like crazy. today's adventure was making brownies from scratch. i think i cooked them a bit too long but the end result is edible. i got a basic recipe off of allrecipes and then modded it.
brownies
the recipe i went with is
1/2 cup sugar
1cup flour
1/3cup coco powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup veg oil
2 eggs
1 tablespoon golden syrup(corn syrup/karo syrup)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

i mixed the dry and in a different bowl i mixed the wet. then i dumped the wet into the dry and mixed them together. i dumped the batter into my 9X9 greased baking dish. cook at 350degreeF(180degreeC) for 25min

stupidly easy and will fix that chocolate craving.

i did a mexican night a few weeks ago when we had quests over. i finally found a white sauce like the kind we get at the local mexican place. it's super easy and delicious. good with plain old corn chips
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mexican-White-Sauce/Detail.aspx
i also did some spanish rice to go in the burritos. i used 1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water, this was more than enough for 4 adults

1 cup of rice
2 cups of water
1 green bell pepper diced up
1 small onion diced up
cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, tomato paste, black pepper
i put everything in a sauce pan with a little oil except the water and tomato paste
i saute the stuff until the veg starts to soften up. then i add the water and the tomato paste. bring to boil and then turn down to low, simmer off the water like cooking regular rice.

raw sauce. i am intruged by this recipe. someone posted it up on the bored housewife forum the other day. i think i will make this weekend
raw sauce (tomatoes, green peppers, squash, onions, basil and sea salt, all blended into a chunky sauce) with a sprinkle of feta.)
i have all of those things. you serve it over pasta i guess.
today i am making ratatouille. i'll do jon a chicken breast(marinated in balsamic salad dressing, wrapped in foil and baked in the oven)
the ham hash brown quiche the other night was a big hit.

i made this today
ham hash brown quiche
recipe mod: i made my own hash browns since this is england and the frozen hash browns here just aren't right. plus there are none in my freezer and i wasn't going all the way to the store when i have a load of potatoes already. so i got 3 medium sized potatoes, peeled them and grated them with my cheese grater. easy. i browned them up in my stainless steel frying pan. i also used red peppers instead of green and skipped the mushrooms- we're all out. i think that's it, i pretty much followed the recipe. oh i left out salt. i figured the ham was salty enough. husband should be home shortly to eat it. i have no clue what i am having for dinner. i think maybe french fries and curry sauce.

there's a lot of food in my fridge. my fridge is unhappy. things are not being eaten. i had a big container of plums on my counter for like 2 weeks, no one was eating them. i cut them up and made plum sauce. i'll put that in the freezer and thaw as needed. it mixes nicely with yogurt. i am also making a batch of strawberry sauce.
how do you make fruit sauce? a refresher for those who are new
fruit sauce: plum
cut your plums in half, remove the stone, cut the halves into smaller chunks. place fruit chunks in a sauce pan with a little bit of water. turn the burner on medium, bring the pan to a boil. reduce the heat to low. cook long enough that all the fruit is soft. remove from heat and let cool. blend with your stickblender. stir into plain yogurt and eat. you can also make all fruit popsicles.
fruit sauce: strawberries
wash and hull your strawberries. put in a sauce pan with a little water. turn the heat on to medium, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat. let cool, blend with the stick blender. super easy, just like the plum sauce.

ok, i know updates have been sparse lately. i've got lots of different things going on but mostly i'm just lazy. it's way more fun to eat the food than take pictures of it and write about it. i have been cooking up some awesome stuff lately though.

indian night

we're having guests over and it's my husband's birthday. for his special meal he requested indian food. i don't cook much indian so i dug around on the internet for some recipes.
indian style ice cream
if you've never had kulfi you are missing out. it's super rich and damn tasty. best of all it's stupidly simple to make. i poured mine into popsicle moulds. when it was time to serve the ice cream i plunged the moulds into boiling water for a few second and then used a fork to fish the ice cream out.
mods i made to the original recipe- skipped the nuts and used whole cardamom pods instead of powder. you can skip the pods too, they don't really add much.
pilau rice
the husband really likes pilau rice so i dug up a recipe and made him some. mods to the recipe: i used 1 cup of rice to 2 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon because i couldn't be bothered to buy sticks. i didn't bother crushing the cumin seeds and i used 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme. tasted great.
samosas stupidly easy to make just very labor intensive. lots of rolling and folding and stuffing. i made these up the night before, deep fried them and kept them in the fridge. when it was time to eat i put them on a baking tray in the oven for 10min. mods to the recipe: i used frozen mixed veg instead of lamb. i cooked some onion and finely diced potato in a pan for about 10min, add 2 cups frozen mixed veg and followed the rest of the recipe. these turned out awesome.
i also did a couple dips for the apps.

sweet chili sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 red chili
1 green chili

add the water and sugar to a sauce pan, stir and heat on medium. let the mixture boil away, it will gradually reduce and thicken. when the mixture coats a spoon and has the consistency of cough syrup, take off the heat to cool. deseed the peppers and thinly slice. add slices to the sauce just after you remove it from the heat.
ok notes about this sauce. it can be dangerous to make. boiling hot sugar water will burn the crap out of you if it gets on your skin. chili peppers are hot, use gloves or pay the price. make sure you wash your hands very well after touching them or you will be sorry. if you screw up and over cook the sauce like i did, don't worry. i let the sauce sit on the counter over night and it separated out. the chilies and some clear liquid floated to the top while the granulated sugar sunk to the bottom. i just poured off the chilies and liquid and it tasted fine.

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cucumber raita
1 cup of yogurt(i used greek)
1/2 small onion- as finely diced as you can
about 1.5 inches of cucumber finely diced like the onion
salt, pepper, mint, cumin, chili powder, lime juice
(i do all my seasoning my taste and sight.) mix the onion, cucumber with the yogurt. add the rest of the stuff until it tastes nice. start off with like  a tablespoon of mint and 1/4 teaspoon of the cumin and chili powder
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raita is good with samosas or as a veggie dip

stuffed chicken breast

ok, pretty easy stuff. i took a chicken breast and butterflied it. that's when you slice it in half but don't cut all the way through. the chicken breast looks like a book. i happened to have some left over sausage stuffing in the fridge so i piled that up on one side and then closed it up. i used a tooth pick to make sure the breast staid shut. i put a little oil, salt and pepper on the breast before i put it in a hot frying pan. i cooked the breast for a few minutes on each side just to get some color before putting it on a tray and sticking it in the oven for 15min to finish cooking. i cut it into slices before i served it to make sure the chicken was cooked.
the orange stuff in the middle is a mixture of sweet potato and regular white potato cooked up and mashed(butter, milk, salt/papper.)

spinach roll. i didn't take a picture of this dish, i just freaken inhailed it. soooo damn good. this thing is totally half assed. basically i needed to use up the spinach and couldn't be bothered to concentrate so i threw this together. you get two servings

1/4 bag of spinach cleaned(washed and i remove the stems)whatever you have leftover in the fridge looking sad and wilted
handful of feta cheese
phyllo dough( i use the premade stuff from the grocery store.)
sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder, basil, garlic paste
chopped onion, chopped bell pepper
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saute the onions, garlic paste and bell pepper for about 10 min. add the spinach. spinach cooks quick
the phyllo dough comes rolled up, there are like 15 sheets. i unrolled the dough counted 5 sheets and then cut the 5 sheets in half. i rolled up the dough i wasn't using and stuck it in the freezer. so i had a square of dough 5 sheets thick. i brushed some oil on a baking tray and laid the dough down. in the center for the dough i placed my spinach mixture. i sprinkled some garlic powder and basil over top along with some sea salt and black pepper. i crumbled a bunch of feta on last. now for the tricky part. basically i rolled this thing up like a barrito. i folded up the top and bottom then i rolled it from left to right. with the roll coming to rest on the seam. since the tray was brushed with oil this got on the dough, saving me the trouble of having to brush it again before baking. i put this thing in the oven at 200degrees C and baked until the top got crispy and brown. 1/2hr or so? i wasn't paying attention.
note be careful with the sea salt. you just need a tiny bit if any. the feta is salty on it's own. i don't use salt much in my cooking so this was almost too salty for me.

oatmeal squares
2 3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup butter type substance
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 mashed banana
1 teaspoon cinnamon

grease an 8x12inch baking dish, preheat oven to 350

melt the butter in a sauce pan, mix in the brown sugar.
in a medium sized bowl mix the oats with the raisins, cinnamon. when the butter is melted pour the butter/sugar mixture over the oats. add the mashed banana and stir everything together. dump the mix into your greased baking dish. press everything down and bake for like 20min. take out from oven, cut into squares and eat. store in airtight container.
i made these this afternoon. pretty good. i'm going to see if i can get my toddler to eat them for breakfast since he no longer eats regular oatmeal.

yes, yes updates i know. right now i'm busy making and eating food.

all the stuff i made yesterday was a huge hit. the pulled pork in bbq sauce turned out awesome. the homemade coleslaw was excellent. today was more cooking, trying recipes off allrecipes.com
my son has turned 3 and become a picky eater, total nightmare. today i bought some quinoa to see if that would work for breakfast. i made a sweet version, looks a little like tapioca when done. he didn't like it so i ended up eating it. did a batch of my granola bars, he devoured a bunch of those so at least i have something i know he will eat. did a sausage and tomato sauce for husband's dinner and a batch of homemade granola cereal. will post up links tomorrow

slowly getting back into the swing of things here. restarting the $75 a week food budget on saturday. (this week i've been restocking supplies to normal levels. i haven't been keeping track but i'm probably at around $100.) my son got back from his vacation yesterday. i've been doing some cooking this week, trying out a few new things.
since my inlaws are here i decided to pull out the large chunk of pork i've had in my freezer for awhile. it kind of looks like an unsmoked piece of ham with a thick fat cap. i don't know what pig part it's supposed to be. anyway i'm doing pulled pork bbq sandwiches for dinner with coleslaw and i guess french fries. i've got my starter recipes off allrecipes.com and modified them.
pork: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Southern-Pulled-Pork/Detail.aspx
bbq sauce: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Nanas-Barbeque-Sauce/Detail.aspx
now i guess the traditional way is to cook the pork separate and then add to the bbq sauce just before serving. we'll see how it goes. i have made the bbq sauce before- with my own additions and it turns out really nice and lasts ages in the fridge.
going to go with this slaw recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Moms-Coleslaw/Detail.aspx
i've got an ass load of cooking still to do and don't feel like bullshitting around with fancy slaw.
also doing a batch of granola bars today.

katsu curry from cook yourself thin

For the curry sauce:

• 1 tbsp groundnut or vegetable oil
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 5 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp medium curry powder
• 600ml chicken stock
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tsp garam masala
• Salt and pepper

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1. To make the sauce, heat the oil in a small pan. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes, then throw in the carrot pieces and cook slowly for 10 minutes, with the lid on, giving the odd stir occasionally. You want to sweat the vegetables until softened and starting to caramelise.
2. Stir in the flour and curry powder and cook them for a minute. Slowly pour in the chicken stock bit by bit until combined (do it slowly to avoid getting lumps). Add the honey, soy and bay leaf then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a slow simmer and cook for 20 minutes. The sauce will have thickened and taken on all of the flavours, although you still need it to have a pouring consistency. Add the garam masala, salt and pepper, then pass the sauce through a sieve. (if you like a chunky sauce so feel free not to strain it.)

lots going on. working on trying to make some money. reopened my etsy shop and started up a new one to sell vintage photo downloads. as soon as i get some drawing done i've got a 3rd shop lined up for those. it would be nice to get some cash to cover the trip i'm making in a few weeks. so food blog will take a back seat probably until after i get back from my trip.

just wanted to let everyone know the super talented beth over at hero design studio has launched her own cooking blog. she does a load of gluten free cooking. her food looks fantastic. so go check out tasty yummies

yes, yes, updates i know. i have been cooking and saving my receipts. lots of other stuff going on. in the past few days i have made: chicken finger, mozzarella sticks, BBQ pork chops, nachos and meat lasagna.