Recipes

Crazy diet days

by Cellobella on Monday, February 8, 2010 · 2 comments

Alright enough already.

Too many people have told me about the protein diet where you eat protein only for three days and then have high protein after that, one day off a week, 10,000 steps a day… yeah yeah I hear ya.

Well I’m going to try it.

Stirling Bridge

At this point I would have put in a photo of me at my skinniest as inspiration… but I couldn’t find one… so this is a photo of me aged about 8 (and my bro): “Hmmm…” I’m thinking, “protein… ”

Anyway day one worked out okay.

I walked down to my favourite deli to get some sliced meat for lunch and realised I had left my wallet at home.

The 10,000 steps just became doable.

So on this diet, you’re supposed to not eat for an hour after eating, and then you have to eat again within three.

Well I’m just not good at keeping to time unless I’m on air…

I was so hungry when I got home.

Hungry and a little bit sick I think.

Anyway Groover, bless him, had found the lowest carb meal he could possibly find in Delicious and made it for me.

How yummy does that look?

Not as yummy as it tasted.

Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to eat the salad because it’s not protein and I’m on protein only for three days.

Sigh.

Day one and I break the diet.

A small, tiny transgression surely…

Anyway after dinner I really did feel sick – so I’m not sure whether this protein only thing really is that flash.

Or maybe I shouldn’t have had that glass of wine.

It wasn’t protein wine.

Sigh again.

Two transgressions.

It’s my birthday

by Cellobella on Tuesday, October 27, 2009 · 7 comments

Sigh.

Why is it that birthdays are less exciting the older you get?

cookies

Groover was sweet.  He knew I wanted to take choc chip cookies to work rather than a cake and so he made some for me.

Unfortunately they didn’t work out so well – dud recipe with no baking powder.

But I love that he tried.

Luckily I had bought extra ingredients and the result you see above.

And maybe next time he’ll go to redsultana.com for the best choc chip cookie recipe of all time.

We don’t call them nom noms for nothing!

Happy Anniversary

by Cellobella on Saturday, September 26, 2009 · 3 comments

I took this photo on a bright spring morning

It was a beautiful spring day today.  the warm sun, so long denied us warmed my back as I set about putting my neglected garden in order.

Well pulled a few weeds anyway.

It is a satisfying thing to see a well swept back passage and no, that is not a euphemism.

Afterwards I pulled out my recliner and read my book in the dappled sunlight under my pergola.

I have been married today for 17 years.  That’s a long time isn’t it?

One ought to be able to celebrate milestones on one’s blog don’t you think… anniversaries, firsts, the cute things your kids say like:

“Mum!  You are NOT taking my photo!  You are NOT blogging this!!”

So that little milestone will go unrecognised on my blog sadly except with this oblique reference.

In the meantime – a batch of chocolate chip cookies has kept the family happy today.

A tale of two turkeys

by Cellobella on Wednesday, December 24, 2008 · 5 comments

Christmas is possible after all.

Following my melt-down yesterday, your fabulous support, my gorgeous family helping out, my lovely friend taking me out, and some successful Christmas shopping yesterday, I have recovered.

It was weird.  I haven’t felt like that before.  Completely overwhelmed I was.

But enough about that, you want to hear about the turkeys.

So Groover went food shopping yesterday and being as organised as I am went shopping for turkeys.

You see at one point we were going to get some free-range chickens because I love weber cooked chicken much better than turkey, but then as Christmas grew closer we kind of felt a bit nostalgic for that old Christmas turkey so we changed our minds.

Changing our minds meant we hadn’t ordered a turkey so Groover went out hunting and gathering with the masses.

He found a frozen turkey and bought it.

It takes three days apparently to thaw a frozen turkey.

It was only two days until turkey time… so it was close.

He shopped for the stuffing ingredients and weber trays and heat beads and then found a fresh turkey.

So just in case, he bought it as well.

Great.  Now we have two turkeys, and we don’t even like it!

At least we’ll sleep well.

So your suggestions please for what to do with leftover turkey.  I suspect we might need a few ideas.

:)
Happy Christmas Eve!

Teaching the boy to cook

by Cellobella on Friday, August 1, 2008

Isn’t bolognese the easiest thing to cook? It’s my go to dish when I really can’t be bothered. The kids will eat it – it doesn’t take long or too many ingredients.

Well the other night my son walked past me as I was chopping up the onion and I thought – hey – he could learn how to cook this and bolognese would become even easier to make – I could make it from the couch! Oh and besides, a good mother teaches her son to cook… right?

No sooner had I mentioned it when Groover pipes up. “Make sure you break up the mince” he says, “don’t cook the onion too fast” he mentions and before I knew it – he’s in the kitchen.

Bonus I thought and left them to it!

Cooking with Dad

Cooking with Dad

Cooking with Dad

Now that’s what I call being a good mother. ;)

The last person to make No Knead Bread

by Cellobella on Friday, July 18, 2008

I am well behind the rest of the world on this one. The NY Times unveiled the No Knead Bread recipe on the 8th November 2006 and I have only today found time to make it.

Well yesterday and today.

No Knead Bread

No Knead Bread

The trick is allowing the dough time to rise – 18 hours – and I imagine you could get away with less time if it wasn’t so freaking cold in my house.

The result – crunchy chewy crust – soft light interior.

Bliss.

I’m only posting this now to distract myself until Groover gets home so he can get a slice…

Of course baking bread also looks good to my daughter’s friend’s mother – see I can cook bread – I am trustworthy – I am the sort of homey type who will look after your daughter with care. Look at me – I am the GOOD mother.
;)

(Oh how easily you are all fooled…)

Rice cooker Organic Beef Dark Ale Casserole

by Cellobella on Monday, April 28, 2008

beefcasseroleLet me share with you Groover’s delicious recipe for beef casserole that he made up himself taking inspiration from several recipes.

It is perfect for a wet wintry day and very rich.

The idea is to get it started in the morning and then go away and leave it. Come back for an evening meal and in the meantime enjoy the beautiful aromas of comfort food.

Rice cooker organic beef and dark ale casserole.

Ingredients:
1 kg of oyster blade beef (or any cheap cut of organic beef)
100g pancetta cut into cm cubes
250 mL of beef stock
1 bottle (330mL) dark ale or stout (eg Guinness)
1 can of crushed tomatoes
500g small brown onions
one bunch of baby carrots
300g mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
handful fresh rosemary, finely chopped
50g plain flour
2 anchovies (the secret ingredient)
2 tablespoons of Worcester Sauce
1 teaspoon Marmite (the other secret ingredient)
handful of flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
zest of one lemon
splash of sherry
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Put olive oil in pan and fry off the pancetta. Remove pancetta and place in bottom of rice (or slow) cooker. Mix the flour salt and pepper and chopped rosemary and cut the beef into three or four centimetre chunks and coat liberally in the seasoned flour.

Brown the beef in the pan to seal and caramelise the beef quickly – you don’t want to cook it through – feel free to do this in batches. Place beef on top of the pancetta in the rice cooker.

Finally, peel the onions and garlic and quickly pan fry in the remaining oil and throw on top of beef.

The onions are meant to be whole and not cooked, just lightly glazed with the oil. Deglaze the pan with the sherry and pour juice over the ingredients in the rice cooker.

Add the stout and stock, chopped mushrooms, anchovies, tomatoes, marmite and Worcester Sauce and close the rice cooker. Put the cooker on cook and then let it simmer on “warm” for the next 6-7 hours (the rest of the day).

The house will fill with delicious comfort foody smells.

About two hours before serving throw in the washed baby carrots.

Just prior to serving add the chopped parsley and zest of a lemon.

Serve with mashed potato and green salad.

Yummy.

My favourite pasta recipe

by Cellobella on Monday, March 3, 2008

Today I thought I’d share with you my favourite pasta recipe as discovered one day at The Boatshed. My favourite if overpriced grocery store.

My favourite pastaIngredients:

1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 jar of tomato pasta sauce (chopped tomatoes in a can is a cheaper alternative)
1 thick slice of pancetta (bacon would be fine)
Kalamata olives (I get pitted because I’m lazy)
Basil leaves
Pasta of your choice

My favourite pastaMethod:

Start cooking pasta.

In a wok or frypan, fry off the bacon/pancetta and add the onion. Cook at a lowish heat until soft and add garlic.

Cook garlic at a low heat for a minute or two and add tomato puree or sauce.

My favourite pastaStir in basil leaves, roughy torn, and olives.

Stir in pasta and serve with a fresh garden salad.

So easy and so yummy… although I do seem to end up with three servings of olives… lucky me. :)

Swimming upstream against fussy eaters

by Cellobella on Thursday, February 7, 2008

Groover would say it’s pearls before swine:

Teriyaki Salmon

Of course my little fussbudgets – though professing to be “starving half to death” – weren’t interested in eating it. And he had presented it so beautifully.

Sure, he might do some bad things, but overall he’s a pretty good egg (to keep the foodie theme going). You might say he’s E for Excellent. :)

Speaking of which… Babyamore (Trish) nominated my blog as E for Excellent. Thanks Trish. You made my day!

excellent blog

I’d like to pass on this award to some faves of mine: Karen Cheng, h&b, Are Don and Carol Coming?, Dipping into the Blogpond, A Roaming Aussie Mum, Reading Circles, Firstperson Thirdcat, Planning with Kids, Magneto Bold Too, The Beer Card and Three Ring Circus.

Update: I just showed my list to Groover who said:

I like all these acronyms people use for their partners… DH and MPS etc [Kelley what does MPS mean? - cb] – why can’t I have an acronym?

Because your acronym would be as long as your handle.

?

TFOBBTIFTSW*

*The Fat Old Bald Bastard That I’m Forced To Sleep With.
;)
He likes a bit of mean…

Oh and for those of you who caught the salmon reference in the title – here’s a little song: (thanks to Feline for the tip)

Mr Weezee’s satay sticks

by Cellobella on Monday, November 26, 2007 · 3 comments

SatayIn the tradition of The Food Pornographer may I introduce you to the worst kept secret in the Western Suburbs – Mr Weezee’s Satay.

I’d heard others talk about this phenomenon of a shop and its quirky idiosyncracies and was intrigued. The co-manager of our cricket team told me where it was – in the middle of Chelsea Village – and taking a short detour home I dropped in this afternoon.

First of all – he only takes cash or cheque. That is important information as I don’t think there is a cashpoint there – well, not an obvious one.

You can buy chicken satay or beef satay, and I think that’s it! You can buy them in 12 packs or 25 packs – frozen. You can buy satay sauce separately. I bought 25 chicken sticks for $17.50 and a satay sauce (small plastic container) for $2.50. That fed my family of four… just. So this is not the cheapest meal on the block, but oh…

So yummy! The sticks are just the right size to barbeque. The sauce peanutty and as delicious with salads. A winner.

Shop G13 Chelsea Village 145 Stirling Hwy Nedlands WA 6009 (You have to go right inside the complex and it is a small shopfront in the northeastern quadrant).

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