Chicken pie..... Cheats version

How many times did you crave a pie but were let down by the fact your freezer didn't seem to miraculously throw frozen pastry at you or you just couldn't be bothered making pastry?

Be bothered my friends because this pie wins on all fronts. And not a pastry sheet in sight! Don't be fooled, this is a pie. It looks like pie and tastes mighty fine.

This is a thermomix recipe but obviously can be made stove top too... If you have a thermomix the bracket instructions will make sense, if you dont, ignore that!

Filling
1 small onion
1 red capsicum
6 mushrooms
2 chicken breasts
pepper/salt
curry powder(optional)

Batter
100g cheese (edam or what ever you prefer)
180g of plain flour
500g milk
3 eggs
3 tsp of baking powder
1 tbsp butter
salt

I dont like the taste of baking powder,so use 120 g of SR flour and 60g plain flour

FILLING
Dice onion,capsicum and mushrooms ( or chop 6 sec/speed 6)
Add oil and chicken strips,seasoning and curry powder and saute until cooked. (or 10min/100 deg/reverse speed 1)

Drain off excess liquid and set aside.


BATTER
Chop or grate cheese (10sec/speed7)
Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix well. (25sec/speed 3)

Pour the batter into greased oven proof dish, it should be runny, dont panic at this stage!
Spread the cooked chicken mix over the batter. It will look horrid, dont be put off just yet!
make sure it is even.
Cook in the oven for 50 mins on 180 degrees, or until golden brown. Refer to second pic ;)

Voila, a pie that isn't a pie that really is a pie! Serve with a salad or if you are feeling naughty some new potatoes smothered in butter and dill... mmmmm YUM!

Pull apart-herb butter and cheese or......

Herb and Cheese baked in a tin

Recipe method following is for cheesymite scrolls.

450g lukewarm water

1 tablespoon of dried yeast or 40g fresh yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons of salt

750g bakers flour

100g olive oil

This is the basic dough, I have used wholemeal and a half half before and both were fine.

Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Once they start to form a ball pop into a floured bench and knead for 2 mins.

Put into a bowl and place into a warm spot with a tea towel covering it for 30 mins.

Pre heat your oven to 180C degrees.

Once risen, knock down the dough. IE fold into itself and push down. Do this a few  times turning the dough as you go.

Roll out into large rectangles and cover with vegemite (or herb butter)and grated cheese. Roll the length toward you to form a sausage and then cut into portions.

Place on a tray lined with baking paper the portions cut side up. Grate some extra cheese over the top. Making sure they are all touching. Set aside for a further 10 mins before baking.

They will join slightly when cooking.

Cook for 30-40 mins until golden brown.

Enjoy!!

Black Olive Dip- Thermo style

Yes- there I said it. Thermo. As in mix.

 Thermomix Australia

Thermomix recipes

I bit the bullet and bought one! Well my husband bought one but I get to use it.

We had researched a lot. So much so I'd given up on getting one- let's just say that hubby is thorough ;-) A decision is never rushed!

Soooo anyway I have been experimenting and the perfect excuse to try and make this dip presented itself. My master 5 is mad for black olives! He won't eat a cooked carrot but will happily shovel these into his mouth.

He had a show and tell task, make your favourite recipe and talk about it :-)

His first request was actually pancakes (yawn) but on discovering I was out of eggs and not wanting to do a mad dash to the shops I asked him if he wanted me to try and replicate his favourite dip!

WIN! Yes!

Tick tick tick I had everything I thought needed to rock this challenge. And the perfect appliance to make it in.

Black olives. Use as many or as little according to taste
1 clove of garlic
Cream cheese
Fetta cheese
Salt
Lemon olive oil
Natural yoghurt

Blitz olives and garlic add the cheeses and yoghurt and then slowly drizzle in some oil.

Seriously easy and according to master 5 totally spot on! Of course it had to be tasted on a cracker for the review to be completed!

One show and tell challenge-completed!

A furphy because of Murphy....

Murphy’s Law

Let’s get this straight, Murphy you are not welcome here.

You know Murphy you always turn up at the worst possible time. 

 Take for instance last Tuesday. We were running late for school drop off and all of a sudden you need to rear your ugly head.

Rush rush rush, EVERYBODY in the car NOW!!!

WAIT- why won’t my key not turn from the lock? It’s stuck. Why???

Omg in the moment of rush I had managed to lock the door with the wrong key and get it stuck in there….. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Panic sets in, running late, the key is stuck!  And stuck tight!

I proceed to take off my other keys and run around to the front door to see if I could unlock the door from the other side…der of course I couldn’t. I run around to the back door and think to myself, its stuck no one will be able to open it, let’s goooooooooooooooo!!

Shut the screen door which then wedges itself onto the stuck key… great. Two doors now unable to be opened…

I did manage to get the kids to school on time, phew. Next question, ring a lock smith? Landlord?

I decided the landlord would be cheaper….although how embarrassing…

I fumbled my way through my explanation whilst he dismantled the lock-Yep the whole lock had to be pulled apart to retrieve the key which was bent out of shape due to trying to get it unstuck…

Needless to say, in future when rushing I will make sure that I am not distracted whilst locking up!

What is your Murphy furphy?

Men,shopping and endless questions.

Men- shopping and the endless questions….

I loathe supermarket shopping. It’s a chore I would rather do without. I make lists and stick to them.

A.      To get in and out more efficiently

B.      To curb my impulse buys

Hubby on the other hand is happy to go. Bless his cotton sock. He has his reasons, one being he buys all the things I don’t. The naughty things like chippies and chocolate…..

It started after I had two children within 12 months. He would kindly phone on his way home and ask if I needed anything. YOU BETCHA I would say and rattle off a list to freak any man out.

After a long day at work he would pound the aisles just for me. These days I am slightly more organised and have some child free days up my sleeve. Invariably though there is something you miss. So when he phones and asks I have no hesitation in telling him what he can pick up for me.

Now I don’t know about you, but when I shop I don’t think too much about it, it’s routine. Hubby on the other hand has a knack. And that knack is a phone call to me whilst he is shopping.

Nearly.every.freaking.time

It’s comical. I can almost time the call from when he leaves the house, to when my phone will ring.

HIM: “Hun, they don’t have the milk you buy”

ME: “o000000000kkkkkk, then choose another brand!”

Yes simple stuff, but for him it must baffle him because otherwise why call?  I am not a brand snob, grab the quickest item and hot foot it out of there!

What funny things does your husband do? God love them, but it’s true, their brains are wired differently aren’t they?

Itty bitty brownies

I know the norm is to bake a slab of brownie. Today I thought what they hey ill try something different. After all I wanted a bite sized treat for my boys lunch boxes.

So I googled recipes. Oh my! It's a mine field out there in the land of recipes. Gone are the days when we relied on our sticky pages of the good ol women's weekly!

This recipe is easy and tastes amazing. Instead  of lining a slice tin, pop the mix into itty bitty patty pans! Voila!

I omit the walnuts :)

Brownies

Enjoy!

xx

Fish.. chilli... cakes and chocolate for afters.....

I have a definite love hate relationship with cooking. On one hand I love it and love trying new recipes. On the other hand I hate it,especially when I am not inspired or time is not on my side.

Fortunately the love wins out more often than not. In this instance we were keen to try a few new recipes. 

We have made fishcakes in the past, but these were definitely a winning combo.

First and foremost I am hopeless when it comes to following a recipe. Hubby is far better at it than me. So when it comes to making pastes etc he is my go to man! We used his red curry paste in the fish cakes. Of course if you are time poor or just cant bothered, by all means buy a paste already done!

These recipes how ever are easy peasy, although bad habits die hard and I found myself adapting both the panna cotta and the fish to my liking.

EG I added Belgium chocolate to the panna cotta for some va va voom. Worked a treat.

I used Kecap Manis in the fish instead of Teriyaki sauce as I prefer it. But hey what ever floats your boat I say. 

We used Flathead for the fish cakes and Coral trout for the Chilli Fish

Fish cakes

Chilli Fish

Panna Cotta

So whilst these were found trawling the web, they are now tried and tested by Moi and given the thumbs up!

Enjoy,and let me know once you've made them.