HOW I FED MY FAMILY OF 4 BREAKFAST, LUNCH AND DINNER AND DESSERT FOR $100 FOR A WEEK & WALLET WATCHING WEDNE$DAY LINK UP

For today's Wallet Watching Wedne$day link up I thought I would challenge myself to feed my family of 4 for $100 for the week. This included breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and some sweet treats. Albeit one of my children is only 7 months old but it can be surprising how much food he can shovel in. That and my husband alone eats for a family of 4. It was a little harder than expected as I like to eat well (not boring) and we also like to eat hot lunches. I originally wanted to try and feed everyone for $50 and then that increased to $75 but the reality hit when I started the shop and the idea spending so little was not going to be achievable, maybe a follow up post with this minimal budget will need to take place. Come along with me on my week journey stating tomorrow, discovering that it is possible to spend less than $15 a day on 4 people for 3 main meals and a couple of sweet treats.

The menu plan looks like this.

• THURSDAY

BREAKFAST: Toast
LUNCH: Meat and Veg Pasties
DINNER: Chorizo and Capsicum Pasta

• FRIDAY

BREAKFAST: Oats
LUNCH: Spinach Tort
DINNER: Beef Pie

• SATURDAY

BREAKFAST: Toast
LUNCH: Potato and Leek Soup
DINNER: Chili Con Carne

• SUNDAY

BREAKFAST: Pancakes
LUNCH: Spaghetti Fritatta
DINNER: Sausage Rolls

• MONDAY

BREAKFAST: Toast
LUNCH: Savoury Muffins
DINNER: Cottage Pie

• TUESDAY

BREAKFAST: Oats
LUNCH: Pumpkin and Feta Scrolls
DINNER: Meatballs

• WEDNESDAY

BREAKFAST: Toast
LUNCH: Spinach and Feta Muffins
DINNER: Pumpkin Risotto

SWEET TREATS: Oat and Choc Chip Dairy and Egg Free Cookies
                               Choc chip muffins

SHOPPING LIST

Grocery Store: 

Homebrand Brown Sugar 1kg $2.89

Hombrand Cooking Chocolate Chip Dark Bits 250g $1.65

Homebrand Plain Flour 2kg $1.88

Homebrand Self Raising flour 2kg $1.88

Homebrand Rolled Oats Traditional 750g x2 $2.98

Homebrand Spaghetti 500g x2 $0.91

Homebrand White Long Rice 1kg $1.99

Homebrand 3 Bean Mix 400g x2 $1.70

Homebrand Diced Tomatoes 400g x8 $6.88

Homebrand Caged Eggs 12 pack 700g $3.66

Homebrand Sunflower Oil 750ml $2.90

Homebrand Tomato Paste 500g $1.39

Homebrand Butter 250g $1.42

F Mayer Soft Feta 500g $3.74

Homebrand Tasty Cheese 500g $4.99

Homebrand Sour Cream 300ml $1.32

Homebrand Full Cream Milk 2L x2 $4.00

Homebrand Puff Pastry 1kg $3.21

Homebrand Frozen Peas 1kg $2.19

Logan Farm Spinach Portions 500g $2.59

Australian Beef Chuck 500g $6.00

Mince Beef Regular 1.5kg $10.49

Chorizo 200g $2.15

Homebrand Arborio Rice 1kg $3.20

Green Grocer:

Potatoes Brushed 5kg $1.99

Leeks x2 $3.00

Chili Bullhorn Red 0.585kg $2.92

Jurgens Rye Bread x2 $5.00

Carrot 1kg $1.75

Onion 1kg $1.49

Corn 4 Cob Pre-Packed $2.99

Banana 1.47kg $4.40

TOTAL $99.55 

What I haven't bought and will use from my pantry: Pumpkin and Garlic from my garden. Salt and Spices. And homemade stock from my freezer. 

How much does your family spend at the grocery store a week?

TO LINK UP:

Follow the host's blog grace in the little things and home sweet kitchen garden

Like grace in the little things and home sweet kitchen & garden. on Facebook

Share the love and read some of the other great tips on how to save money.

Lastly leave a comment on the blogs that you visit.

EASY 4 INGREDIENT PASTA

This is so easy and only has 4 ingredients!

Chicken avocado pasta.

Meat of 1/2 a roast chook shredded
2 avocados in chunks
2/3 carton sour cream
2/3 packet pasta
(And salt if you so desire)

Cook pasta as directed on the pack. Drain reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and serve. Its that easy (but its not pretty) 

HOW DO YOU SAVE? WALLET WATCHING WEDNESDAY LINK UP!

Here at Home Sweet Kitchen & Garden, we are a single income family. I stay at home with the 2 boys while my hubby goes to work 5-6 days a week. Over the last few years I have noticed a massive rise in living costs, fuel is more than double what it was when I first started driving nearly 10 years ago. Utility bills are double what they were a couple of years ago, food prices are continually rising (and becoming more and more processed). 

For our family to continue to living the lifestyle we are and to make progress on our renovations we need to live frugally at times.We are joining up with grace in the little things to share our money saving tips on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of each month and would love it if you could join us and link up your tips too. 

Saving money from the kitchen to the garden, our wardrobe to our homes, link up during wallet watching Wedne$day. The next link up is on the 11/6/14 at 12 pm AEST.

 

TO LINK UP:

Follow the host's blog grace in the little things and home sweet kitchen garden

Like grace in the little things and home sweet kitchen & garden. on Facebook

Share the love and read some of the other great tips on how to save money.

Lastly leave a comment on the blogs that you visit.

STEAMED PORK BUNS AND SWEET PORK DUMPLINGS

I had a hankering for pork dumplings last night, as I was putting together my failsafe recipe tipping in my rice wine I noticed an interesting smell and on further inspection found that it was full of mould - can rice wine do this? I didn't think so! Lucky for those pregnancy hormones making my smell super sensitive otherwise I think it would have gone unnoticed (since I tipped it in soy sauce and couldn't see that it was black when it should be very light brown)!

So it was back to the drawing board and I created this beauty instead. I felt like dumplings but knew that they wouldn't filly hubby up. I remembered seeing a Jamie Oliver segment last week and he made pork buns, so I thought I would give them a go as well and they were delicious! I even had one for breakfast and am tempted to make them again for dinner tonight (that's a big statement!!)

PORK BUN DOUGH

4 cups plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tbs dried yeast
3 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1 C warm water

Combine most of the water, dried yeast and sugar in a bowl and allow to activate. You will know when this is happening when it starts to foam. Mix into the plain four, baking powder and salt adding more water as necessary until a smooth dough is reached, kneading for 5 minutes. Coat in oil and place in a bowl sitting in another bowl of warm water covered with a clean tea towel for 1 - 2 hours until doubled in size



WONTON WRAPPERS

2 C plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup water

Beat the egg, water and salt together and mix into the flour until a smooth dough is reached, knead for 5 minutes until smooth and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

FILLING

500 grams lean pork mince
2 cups very finely chopped chinese cabbage
1/2 red onion very finely chopped
2 tbs vinegar
3 tbs sugar
1 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs sesame oil
2 cm piece ginger grated

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

ASSEMBLY DUMPLINGS

Roll out wonton dough very thin, I used my pasta machine and got the dough down to setting 1. It is possible to do by hand but really who can be bothered? Cut into 4-5 cm strips and place a teaspoon of filling and fold into a dumpling shape. Steam for 15 minutes.

Rolled out dough

Place a teaspoon of mixture on strips of the wonton wrapper

Fold in half

Fold the top over

Bring the corners together

And again of the other side, to make an eye.

Waiting, ready to be steamed.

Delicious!

ASSEMBLY PORK BUNS

Punch dough down and divide into 8. Flatten the dough in your hand until the size of a teacup saucer. Place 2 tablespoons of filling in the center and fold into a circular shape. Place on a greased piece of greaseproof paper and allow to sit for 30 minutes. Place in a steamer and steam for 20 minutes.

Divide the dough into 8 portions and flatten to a tea cup saucer size.

Add a couple of tablespoons of pork mixture

Fold the top and the bottom together.

Pinch together the sides.

Bring each corner together of the diagonal to form a circle.

Place on an oiled piece of greaseproof paper. Allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Steam for 20 minutes.

So yummy!

MIDDLE EASTERN LAMB AND CITRUS SALAD

I think I have said it before, how much I love middle eastern food! This is no exception. The lovely soft braised meat covered in spices with bursts of sweetness and sourness, fluffy couscous and a zingy fresh salad.

INGREDIENTS

BRAISE
olive oil
6 lamb chops
2 onions sliced
8 cloves garlic crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cinnamon stick
4 star anise
1 orange zest grated
2 tbs tomato paste
3 tbs pomegranate molasses
1 L chicken stock
handful Iranian/wild figs
1.5 C couscous prepared to package instructions just before lamb is finished.

SALAD
2 blood oranges segmented
1 tangelo segmented
1 ruby grapefruit segmented
1/2 red onion finely sliced
handful coriander leaves

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius. Heat oil in a pan and brown of lamb. Remove and set aside. Add onion, garlic, spices and orange zest and cook for 5 minutes until starting to colour. Add tomato paste, pomegranate molasses, stock and figs. Add lamb back and bring to a simmer. Cover pan and put in oven or transfer into an ovenproof dish and allow to cook for a couple of hours until lamb is lovely and tender.

Add all salad ingredients in a bowl and toss together.

Serve on top of couscous with the salad on the side.

CHILI & LIME BEEF AND NOODLE WARM SALAD

I love the combination of chili and lime. Citrus is one of my favourite flavours and partnered with the punch of chili is just divine and perfect for the warmer nights. Seeing as winter is lifting and gloriously sunny days and warmer evenings are starting to happen this was the perfect dinner dish!

INGREDIENTS

500 grams rump steak
MARINADE
4 cloves garlic chopped
2 limes zested and juiced
1 long red chili
1 stalk of lemongrass chopped
2 cm piece of ginger roughly chopped
5 coriander roots well washed
60 grams coconut sugar
60 mls vegetable oil
WARM NOODLE SALAD
200 grams rice noodles
vegetable oil
1 red onion cut into thin wedges
4 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
2 cm ginger julienned
2 tbs oyster sauce
2 long red chillies deseeded and sliced
200 grams green beans trimmed and sliced into 2cm battens
handful of coriander, leaves picked
handful of mint, leaves picked

Place all the marinade ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth. Pour over beef leaving 1 tbs behind and allow to marinate for 30 minutes.

Pour boiling water over noodles and allow to sit while preparing the rest of the salad. Fry beef in a little oil to just under desired finish. Eg cook to rare if you like you meat medium rare. Remove from pan and allow to rest. Clean out pan and add a little more oil and add onion, garlic and ginger and cook stirring for 5 minutes until softened and starting to get some colour. Add oyster sauce, reserved marinade and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes, meanwhile slice up steak. Once beans are tender add drained noodles, steak and half of the herb and toss. Serve up and scatter remaining herbs over the top. Serves 2.

TURKISH BEEF AND SILVERBEET PIDES

There has been an exhaustion that has wrapped around me, and it's not just caused by pregnancy. Renovating and trying to keep up with a toddler is wearing me down as I have reached my third trimester. The passion and motivation to cook over the last few weeks has dwindled, as too has my energy. Dinners have become boring and mundane as I quickly slap a few things together in desperation to have something ready in time for dinner. Food is sustenance, and without it's quality present I have felt the impact.  So meal planning has come into play so there are no excuses for this dreary mumma come late afternoon. I know what is for dinner and I have all the ingredients on hand. I know a lot of people cook this way, but I have always been a cook on a whim sorta gal. I like to cook to the weather, and to what we feel like for dinner and not be confined to the constraints of a meal plan. But alas times are changing, as my energy is being redirected elsewhere, my thoughts less focused on food, and time being a precious commodity.

I love middle eastern food, it is one of my favourite cuisines, along with south east asian. The spices in middle eastern cooking, the soft braised meats, the meats that are barbequed over a wood fire, beautiful breads and all the fresh accompaniments encased by it's general simpleness YUM! This is my recipe for pides. There are two fillings here, a turkish beef and cheese and a silver beet and feta and this recipe makes 8 of each.

FOR THE BREAD:

500 mls milk
120 grams butter
3 tablespoons sugar
14 grams dried yeast
1350 grams plain flour
1 egg

Combine milk and butter in a small saucepan and bring to blood temperature and allow butter to melt. In 250 mls of warm water stir in sugar and and yeast and allow to activate over 5 or so minutes. You will know when activation occurs when the yeast starts to foam. Combine yeast and milk mixtures and add to flour and knead to combine. Leave in a warm spot for about an hour, until the dough has doubled in size.

BEEF AND CHEESE FILLING

30 mls olive oil
650 grams chuck steak in 1 cm cubes
1 large onion finely diced
4 cloves garlic minced
1 large red capsicum finely diced
1 heaped tablespoon tomato paste
2 tsp paprika
2 tablespoons fresh marjoram
1 dried chili seeds removed and crumbled
400 gram can of diced tomatoes
300 grams tasty cheese grated

Fry beef in oil until well browned, remove from pan. Add onion, garlic and capsicum and saute for 5 minutes until softened. Add tomato paste and paprika and toast for a couple of minutes. Add tomatoes and 100 mls of water, marjoram and chili and return beef to the pan. Simmer for 1 hour until beef is soft and tender and sauce has reduced and thickened. Season well and set aside.

SILVERBEET AND FETA FILLING

1200 grams of silverbeet
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion finely diced
4 garlic cloves minced
60 grams golden raisins (or regular sultanas if you do not have access to these)
200 grams danish feta (you could you the regular type, but I like how this almost melts into the silverbeet)

Trim and wash the silverbeet, leaving the steam in the leaf part and allowing a couple of centimeters of steam on each leaf. Finely shred the silverbeet. In a large pot, saute onions and garlic until soft and add raisins and cook for a couple of minutes. Add silverbeet and cover stirring occasionally, allow to cook for 10 minutes. Fold in the crumbled feta and leave to one side.

ASSEMBLY

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Divide dough into 16 pieces. With the egg make an egg wash by beating egg with a splash of water. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until approximately 15 x 25 centimeters.

FOR THE BEEF PIDE

Add a handful of grated cheese to the middle and bottom and then on top a couple of tablespoons of the beef filling, leaving a couple of centimeters of dough all around. Pleat the edges around the filling and transfer onto a greased tray. Brush the dough with egg wash and bake for around 20 minutes or until dark golden.

FOR THE SILVERBEET PIDE

Add a couple of tablespoons of silverbeet mixture to the middle of the dough, leaving a couple of centimeters of dough all around. Pleast the edges around the filling and transfer onto a greased tray. Brush the dough with egg wash and bake for around 20 minutes or until dark golden.

Serve immediately and these are perfect by themselves for a tasty lunch or dinner. The leftovers are going in my husbands lunch box Monday morning. They would pair up beautifully with some hummus or tzatziki, and a lovely salad of cucumber and carrot ribbons mixed with mint and coriander leaves and a zingy lemon dressing.

Silverbeet and Beef Pide

Silverbeet Pide

CHILI CHOCOLATE MACARON

This may very well be my last sweet treat post until bubba Will arrives! I have a sneaking suspicion that I will be continuing the rest of my pregnancy with gestational diabetes, and a glucose tolerance test in the next couple of weeks will confirm this. Everytime I eat something with sugar in it is hits me so hard that it's a battle for me to stay awake. But in saying that I will be hosting a 3rd birthday party and a BaByQ so I'm sure some sugar will sneak in, especially because I love am addicted to the white powder!

I made this for my husbands 30th last month, and it has taken me this long to post about it. I love the combination of chocolate and a surprise hit of chili in the back of the palette. The macaron shell is quite an easy one in comparison to some. Not too much technique, just getting your egg whites whipped to the right point, not too runny and not too stiff. weighing out all your ingredients and sifting them a couple of times. A correct oven temperature is paramount and making sure you turn the timer on is just about all the skill you need to make these beauties. This recipe makes approximately 35 macaroons

CHILI CHOCOLATE GANACHE

250 grams dark chocolate
2 vanilla beans split and scraped
3 cayenne chilies seeds removed
100 grams cream

Heat cream, vanilla and chili together until just before boiling. Take off heat, remove chili and add broken up chocolate and use a bar mix to blitz until smooth. Reserve for later.

MACARON

140 grams egg white
70 grams caster sugar
230 grams icing sugar
120 grams almond meal
2 grams salt
cocoa powder
smoked paprika

Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius. Whip egg whites and sugar until stiff and then continue to whip for 2 minutes. Sift icing sugar and almond meal twice discarding any bits that do not pass through the sieve. Fold into egg white with a metal spoon in as little folds as possible aim for less than 20. Place mixture into piping bag and pipe onto trays lined with baking paper and bang the tray down on the bench a couple of times. Sprinkle half with cocoa powder and the other half with smoked paprika and let them sit for 10 minutes before baking them in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

ASSEMBLY

Match up the macaron shells so that both top and bottom are even sizes. Spoon or pipe in a tablespoon of the chocolate ganache and place both halves together and enjoy!

HOMEMADE VANILLA PASTE

I have made vanilla extract on here before, and as lovely as that was at the end of the batch I was looking for other ways to preserve my vanilla beans. My beans that I had bought for that had gone hard and were almost impossible to use for cakes and other sweet treats, so after a little inspiration from a friend I decided to make vanilla paste.

I started off by boiling my beans in water for 30 minutes until they became soft. Use as many beans as you have and cover in enough water to cover and cook. Once they are soft blend, then strain. Measure out the amount of liquid and add an equal amount of sugar, cook on a low heat until it has dissolved and turned syrupy, store in clean jars in the fridge and use as you would vanilla extract.

I plan on making vanilla sugar with the waste strained beans. I dried them in a low oven until they were completely dry. Hopefully I can bribe my sister with some vanilla goodies and use her thermomix to blitz the beans and sugar together! If you do not have access to a thermomix, you can always store your spent dried beans in a jar of sugar so the fragrance can permeate through.

GUEST POST @ AmeriAus

I am so excited to announce that my Salted Caramel Butter Popcorn Macarons were featured on AmeriAus as a guest post. I would love it if you could all go over there and check out the amazing Recipe Collection and like the AmeriAus Facebook Page!

SOUR CREAM BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

These blueberry muffins using sour cream are deliciously light, perfect with a cup of something hot on these cool winter days, and equally perfect with a glass of lemon and mint fizz in the balmy afternoons of summer when blueberries are at their height. I used frozen blueberries which worked perfectly and are an economical choice for when they are out of season. I think this recipe base would also cater perfectly for white chocolate chips and raspberries, my favourite muffin combination. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean scraped

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup blueberries

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. 
2. Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin papers.
3. Cream eggs and sugar together add vanilla
4. While whisking add oil in a thin stream.
5. Alternatively fold in flour with baking powder and sour cream
6. Carefully fold in blueberries. 
7. Spoon into prepared muffin tin
8. Cook for 15-20 minutes until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
9. Allow to cool slightly and then place on wire rack to completely cool

Makes 12 muffins. Preparation time 10 minutes. Cooking time 15-20 minutes.

SENSATIONAL CHOCOLATE MUD CAKE

It was my husbands 30 a couple of weeks ago, so we threw a party last weekend to celebrate! For his birthday cake he requested a macaron tower. I said no, although I made him macarons (Salted caramel butter popcorn, and chili chocolate [recipe coming soon]) I didn't feel up to the challenge of making them tower like. Too many things to go wrong, and since we were renovating until 10pm the night before to make the house somewhat presentable, and I cleaned for 7 hours straight before the party to clear away all the plaster, brick and ceiling dust from every exposed surface, I thought the challenge would be too big a one. So I made him a layer chocolate mud cake instead. It was delicious and keep really well for a week after the party until we slowly devoured it (was still lovely and moist). I will be making this again for my son's third birthday later in August and our BaByQ mid October.

INGREDIENTS
500 grams butter
300 grams white chocolate
4 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 cup cream
4 vanilla beans scraped
450 grams plain flour
150 grams self raising flour
4 eggs
4 tbs cocoa powder
1200 grams milk chocolate
500 mls cream
5 vanilla beans

METHOD
Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius. I used a 23 cm silicone cake tin but if you are using a regular tin grease and line it with baking paper. In a medium saucepan place butter and melt on low for 5 minutes, to that add the white chocolate, sugar, milk, cream and vanilla beans, and stir occasionally until all the ingredients have melted together. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Sift flours into a large bowl and mix in wet ingredients, add beaten eggs. The mixture is to be divided into 4 cakes (which turned out to be approximately 5 soup ladles full), I cooked them one at a time as I only had one 23cm cake tin. Once you have cooked 2 vanilla layers, stir the cocoa powder in the batter and cook 2 chocolate layers (I much prefered the 'white' mud cake so next time I will omit this step, but it looks gorgeous in the layers.)

For the ganache, heat the cream and split vanilla beans until just before it comes to the boil. Using a bar mix blend  the vanilla and cream together and strain to eliminate any chunky bits of bean that was left over (I don't usually do this as I find the bean breaks down sufficiently, but my beans were older and harder, so do this if you beans are too.) Pour hot cream over chocolate and use bar mix to blend together until smooth and glossy. Allow this to cool for 20 minutes until thickened sufficiently so that you can spread it without it sliding everywhere.

To layer the cake spread a 1/2 cup to a cup of ganache between each layer and cover the outside of the cake with ganache. I used cadbury chocolate fingers to rim the outside of the cake with a ribbon wrapped around them to secure them in place (do this when the ganache is still pliable so that the chocolate sticks are able to stick in place.) You could also use twix, kit kats, round chocolate biscuits would look cute especially if you could find white chocolate covered ones to alternate between, the list is endless and of course you could leave it the way it is with ganache only.

Since my husband is a four wheel driving fanatic, I used the chocolate on top of the cake as a mud pit and decorated it with some new hot wheels four wheel drives (my 3 year old son was devastated at this - he came over just as I was about to put the cars on as I had been hiding them from him on purpose knowing what the outcome would be if he saw them, he asked me what they were for so I showed him and quickly drove one into the mud to get it bogged and he burst out in tears, very cute and funny, as he found it hard to wait until the next day to play with the cars. He would continually pull me over to the fridge and ask for the trucks, but was very excited when we got to sing happy birthday because that meant that he could now play with them!)

Pull the cake out of the fridge a couple of hours before you intend to serve it so the ganache can come to room temperature, I would suggest longer if it is a cold day. This is enough to serve 50-60 party guests. Slice in 2cm x 2cm slices as this is super rich and you do not need a large amount.

Heat the cream and vanilla beans for the ganache.

Gooey ganache. 

spreading the ganache over the first layer.

Placing the second layer on top

Decorated with matchbox cars 

Sliced mud cake

Head on over to market yourself monday to check out what everyone else has been creating!

HOMEMADE HONEY TOASTED MUESLI

This is one of my favourite muesli recipes. It comes out of Marie Claire's cookbook Kitchen. It is simple and tasty, but poses the problem of it won't last long in this house. It is lovely and crisp, and marries perfectly with yoghurt, as a topping to stewed fruits, with ice-cream and of course the traditional way in a bowl with milk.

INGREDIENTS
5 cups oats
1 cup triticale (which is a cross of wheat and rye and can be found at health food shops, if you can't find it or don't want to use it just substitute with oats).
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped almonds
1 cup shredded coconut
2 tbs sesame seeds
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup vegetable oil (you could use coconut oil)
1/4 cup dried apricots chopped
1/4 cup dried apple chopped
1/4 cup dried peaches chopped
(you could use any dried fruit you like)

METHOD
Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius. Mix all the dry ingredients together (excluding dried fruit). Heat the oil and honey together until well combined and toss through the dry ingredients making sure you coat everything. Bake for 30 minutes tossing occasionally until all the ingredients are lightly toasted. I find putting them in two baking dishes helps. Once cooled toss through the dried fruit and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

NUTELLA FILLED PANCAKES

My husband turned the big three zero over the weekend. I wanted to cook him a nice breakfast but we have been a bit like old mother hubbard with bare cupboards, as I have had no time to shop. I knew I would make him pancakes, and was going to stick with his standard topping of sugar and lemon juice, but as I opened the pantry the nutella caught my eye and I came up with a brilliant idea! Nutella filled pancakes!

This is my favourite pancake recipe, they are lovely and light and fluffy due to the addition of baking powder!

2 cups plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
2 tbs sugar
2 eggs
1.5 cups milk (or more if the mixture looks too thick, it should be the consistency of thickened cream)
nutella to blob onto the pancakes
butter to cook the pancakes in

Mix all the ingredients together, except the nutella and butter, trying to get as many lumps out as possible, letting the mixture sit for 10 minutes usually helps if you mixture is particularly lumpy. Heat butter in pan and allow to come to a medium heat, spoon some mixture in and dollop on some nutella, and then cover the dollops of nutella with more pancake mixture. Allow to cook on a medium low heat until golden on both sides and cooked all the way through. The nutella should be lovely and melty at this point. Serve sprinkled with sugar for an extra decadent hit.

Dollop on the nutella to a think layer of pancake mix.

Spoon over some more pancake mix to protect the nutella upon flipping 

Serve sprinkled with some more sugar

Lovely and fluffy and oozy!

Come join us at Tuesday's Table

BLACK FOREST MACARONS

I love a good macaron, crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. I am often left disappointed when I purchase them though. Not because they don't meet that criteria but because the fillings are often somewhat insipid. That's why I love to make my own, my fillings pack a punch, they taste of what they should. And this one is no different, a chocolatey punch with a tang of sour cherry.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

40 grams cream
1 vanilla bean split and seeds scraped
200 grams dark chocolate
65 grams butter
80 grams cherries (I used frozen cherrie you could also used fresh or jarred)

Heat cream vanilla including bean and cherries until almost at the boil. Pour over chocolate and blitz with a bar mix until chocolate has melted and been incorporated, once this has happened start including butter until smooth and glossy. Please note you are supposed to include the vanilla bean when blitzing, it will break down and incorporate into the ganache. Put ganache aside.

CHERRY JELL

200 mls cherry wine (or liquor if you want a stronger punch, you could also use cherry juice if you wish to omit the alcohol although the alcohol will cook off.
150 grams sugar
1 packet jamsetta (found in the baking section of the supermarket)
90 grams glucose

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for 5-10 minutes until thick and syrupy. Test the jelling quality by placing on a refrigerated plate and waiting for mixture to cool down. If set the mixture can be taken off the heat.

MACARON

140 grams egg white
70 grams caster sugar
230 grams icing sugar
120 grams almond meal
2 grams salt

Preheat oven to 150 degrees celsius. Whip egg whites and sugar until stiff and then continue to whip for 2 minutes. Sift icing sugar and almond meal twice discarding any bits that do not pass through the sieve. Fold into egg white with a metal spoon in as little folds as possible aim for less than 20. Place mixture into piping bag and pipe onto trays lined with baking paper and bang the tray down on the bench a couple of times. Dust with cocoa powder and let them sit for 10 minutes before baking them in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes.

ASSEMBLY

Match up the macaron shells so that both top and bottom are even sizes. On one side spread the chocolate ganache and make a well in the center with a butter knife (I forgot to take a picture while filling the macarons but if you would like a picture of what I mean by making a well in the ganache and filling with the jell, I did a similar thing when making the salted caramel butter popcorn macaron and have pictures there). Fill the well with the cherry jell and then place the lid of top with a bit of a twist to ensure that it is stuck on well. Store in the fridge and serve either at room temperature or cold (the jell is slightly more chewy straight from the fridge, so you decide what you like better) and ENJOY!

Make sure you fold the almond and icing sugar into the egg whites well using minimal stokes. 

Dust macarons with cocoa powder

Allow the macarons to rest for 5-10 minutes before baking

Baked macaron shells ready to be filled

Come join us at Tuesday's Table