Today I tried a recipe for a lemon bar.  We have a lemon tree, that never has yellow lemons but they are non the less lemons.  I haven't always been a fan. Most of the time they are too sweet for me, or I don't like the crust.  Sometimes the crust to lemon  is just not ok. But with the engagement party on  2 days away I needed a sweet to bake and fast!  I found a wonderful recipe from Alpineberry.  She is a self proclaimed lemon bar snob. I think they are wonderful, Roland's Dad Loves them! The recipe for that tomorrow! Today is Vietnamese lettuce wraps!

Half  an onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic chopped
Half a carrot shredded
one spring onion cut into rings.
1 lb of ground pork
A few  bowls of lettuce
3 Tbs of Hoisin Sauce
2 Tbs of fish sauce or soy sauce
1Tbs of sesame oil

3 limes  2 juiced and zested. One cut for wedges to serve.

 Put the oil in  the pan and when its hot add the ground pork. When it starts to brown add the garlic onion and carrot till they are cooked. Then add the Hoisin fish sauce and lime juice. Lastly add the  green onion and  a tbs of zest. Let it rest till just warm.


I like to serve this with boiled eggs and quick made pickles.  The eggs I boil for about 15 mins then shell them and let them soak in a mixture of water and fish/soy sauce. I like to give them at least 10 mins to soak.

The pickles are slices of cucumber in 1/3 cup of vinegar, 1tbs of sugar and a pinch of salt. Cover and microwave for one min then let them cool, or refrigerate in the pickling mixture.

 

  

I like to add rice to the mix after it has cooked for a dirty rice texture. Roland's mother and I are not eating grains right now so we ate it traditionally. I cooked up some rice and added it to meat and added another tbs of Hoisin sauce. Then stir and cook for only a few mins. They loved it. 

Tomorrow  Lemon bars!

MUWAH!

Coconut Cookie, or  stick.  So yummy not too sweet just perfect for a cup of coffee.  My soon to be mother In-Law seems to really like them.  They are simple, yet impressive!

1/4 cup of butter
1/3 cup of splenda/sugar
1 cup finely ground coconut
1/2 cup of almond meal
1 egg
and a pinch of salt.

Later you will need dark chocolate, about 100g to melt in the microwave.

First pre-heat the oven to  about 375F  200C. Next put the butter and the splenda/sugar in  bowl and mix till  creamy. It's better to have room temperature butter. Don't try to cheat with the microwave, its not the same no matter how many times you try. :(  Add the coconut, almond meal  egg and salt and blend really well.  Use your hands to roll. Like when you were a kid and made play dough snakes. I find 3 inches is as long as they should go. Longer than that and they break after baking.  Two inches is a good size, but there is no need to be exact. I like to flatten out the ends before putting them on a non-stick baking sheet because it keeps the ends from burning. Then pop them into the oven.  They will only need about 15 mins.  While they are baking I place the chocolate in a bowl and place it in the microwave for 2 mins. Then take it out stir and give it another min and repeat it till the chocolate is melted.   Once they are out of the oven place them on a cooling rack that is over  wax paper. Wait about 5-10 mins for them to cool, then using a spoon, drizzled the chocolate back and forth  to get the  stripy pattern.  Put them in the fridge to set the chocolate and YUM!

Muwah!

What day is it dear boy?  Really?! I didn't miss it! 
As I laid down exhausted last night  right before I drifted to sleep I remembered what I had forgotten.  Luckily! In Blogger time I went to bed at lunch time and  still haven't missed it!   Hooray! my streak continues.

Yesterday, I was determined to find dinner ware for my party. I wasn't very happy with the suggested stuff. I am happy to say after some angry tears, and half a dozen of baked coconut cookies I was able to complete the task!

Tomorrow/tonight  my coconut cookie recipe!

I have been having terrible dreams lately.  Not really good since I can hardly get to sleep in the first place.  I always get nervous before I fly, and I am even more nervous because I have so much to do when I get home.  I  made margarita chicken chilly with a mint avocado sauce. It was a  great hit! I will have to tell you about it later.  for now I am off to bed early!

Muwah

Today was the last day of race to clean before the party next weekend day.  I only have  a little less than two weeks here till I go home and frantically craft everything for my wedding. Thank goodness Roland will be with me.  He worked so hard today, that I made some soup for him and his dad. Though I don't know what to call it.  I made a pork meatball Asian style soup for his mom and I.  It was very tasty and used up a lot of the veggies that had almost over stayed their welcome!

 Not my soup found on Google images. I keep eating it before I take a picture

 I should just leave a camera on the dinning table.

Well I tried this recipe a few days ago and it was loved loved loved!  I served these meatball stuffed mushrooms next to a large twirl of angle hair pasta in marinara, or shaved zucchini in marinara. They were a big hit!

Meat ball stuffed mushrooms

9 big fat mushrooms. (not wide, but thick capped.)
half an onion
4 cloves of garlic
Basil
1/3 lb of ground meat (I used beef but anything is ok)
olive oil
1/4 a tsp of salt and pepper
grated cheese. (Italian mix is super yummy, but I just used cheddar, cause its what we had!)

 First you need to take a wet paper towl and just  wipe the dirt off the mushrooms. Then take the stalks out of the middle.  Cut the woody hard parts of the mushroom stalks off and then  chop the rest finely. Do the same with the onion and the garlic.

Place about a Tbs of Olive oil in the pan and place on high to medium heat. Then add the chopped up ingredients.

 When they are browned and transparent take half the basil and  tear it apart with your hands into the pan. Bruising the basil makes it more fragrant! Only give it a little while in the pan, less than a min on a really hot setting then take the pan off the heat.  Put the meat in a bowl and add the onions and mushrooms to the meat. If you added too much oil, or if the  onions gave off a lot of moisture sprinkle in a little bit of flower to absorb some of the liquids. If not just mix thoroughly.

 The oven should be pre-heated to 175 C or 350F.  Take some olive oil and cover the bottom of your baking dish, and a little up the sides.  Then section of a little bit of the meat mixture at a time, and gently place inside the mushroom cap.  Line the caps up with a little space between. Finally add a pinch of cheese to the top and then into the oven!

 They come out golden and  yummy! Use them instead of meat balls or make a big one and cover it with tomato sauce. I loved it!

 I was going to take a picture of it with the pasta, but... I didn't get a chance to!

Muwah!

I have been playing the new Sims Medieval. It's fantastic!  Though it's also why my post is simply....



OH MY GOSH IT'S SO MUCH FUN!

Not my pic borrowed from Google image!

Muwah!

 I have been having fun with zucchini in place of pasta lately. It's delicious with tomato based sauces. So I tried to make a Lasagna!

1 zuchini

1 onion
4 medium to large mushrooms
4 garlic cloves finally chopped
2 cans of tomatoes
2/3s lb of ground beef
10 or so basil leaves
2 Tbs parsley
Juice of one lemon
4 Tbs of oil
4 tsp of butter
 Salt and pepper to taste

2 1/2 cups of Italian mix Cheese
2 tbs of shredded parmasan

Clean the mushrooms with a damp paper towel and slice. I like the shape of them so I try to help them keep their shape by cutting them in 2mm thick. I chop the onion and garlic cloves finely, and I place gather all three into separate piles on my cutting board.  I heat a pan really hot and I add half the olive oil and 2 Tbs of the butter  when the butter is melted I add the mushrooms to the pan making sure they are in one layer at the bottom of the pan so that they can absorb the butter and  cook evenly.  I also like to salt and pepper  just a bit.

When the mushrooms start to  cook down I add the onion. Waiting till the onions get a little soft I add the garlic and parsley and then I let it cook in the pan till the garlic starts to get golden. I then remove it from the pan into a bowl and put it to the side. With out cleaning the pan I add  the other half of the oil and turn down the heat to medium. I add the ground beef and stir. Once all the pink is gone from sight I add the mushrooms back to the meat and blend them together.  I open the 2 cans of tomatoes and pour  them in. I like using whole tomatoes, because I like the organic texture you get when you pull them apart with your hands, but chopped is also fine. Finally add the lemon juice and the basil on top and set it on low and let it simmer together. You want the sauce to be rather thick.

  Take the Zuchini and peel into strips using a carrot peeler. Pre-heat  the oven to about 350F or 175C. After they are all peeled, pat the strips dry and  pat with protein powder, or flower. Grease your deep baking dish with butter and then line the bottom with the strips.When the sauce has reduced  ladle  a layer of it on to the strips and then  scatter a layer of cheese and repeat starting with more zucchini.  End your layers with cheese on top, sprinkling the Parmesan around the edges. Place into the oven for about  20 mins.

It was super tasty! I didn't use all my zucchini so I placed it in a seal-able container. I squeezed some lemon juice and shake!  Then into the fridge till tomorrow!

 Muwah!

 The shepherd pie kinda thingy.   I made it yesterday, and It was such a big hit that I couldn't get a picture before it was gobbled up! I mention just a roast, because its can adapt to what ever you have left in your fridge! It's pretty simple really, and it was great to get rid of some left overs.  I would advise how ever that if you use chicken, use a chicken gravy mix, if its pork beef or lamb just a nice beef would be perfect!


Here we go!

2 carrots
1 large onion
3 stalks of celery
1lb of cooked roast anything
2 stock cups with instructed water amount
store bought gravy package or left over gravy from the roast.
1/3 cup frozen peas
4 cups of riced cauliflower
1/4  cup of butter (also used  to grease the pan)
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1/4 cup brie
2 Tbs of Parsly
2 table spoons of rosemary
half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste (please remember that packaged gravy may have a lot of salt already in it)

Carrots onion and celery chopped into good sized pieces and put into a pan with  some butter and oil.  I like to  use medium to low heat to get some juices out of the veggies, sprinkling a little salt helps to do that as well.   When the onions are soft and almost translucent add the parsley and rosemary and let them continue to cook.

Meanwhile boil some water and place 2 stock cubes in a bowl.  when the water boils add to the cubes and stir.  Sprinkle a Tbs of the store bought gravy mix on to the Veggies and slowly add the stock. Stir. When the stock is absorbed and thickened add more gravy mix.  Do this about 3 or 4 times. The left over roast  should be cut and cubed into mouth  sized pieces and  thrown in. You may have to add more stock and or gravy mix to make sure its the right consistency for a pot pie. Add frozen peas and the juice from half a lemon, since everything is cooked you should add salt and pepper to taste.  Place a lid on it and put it to the side. (don't worry about the peas they will cook.)

For me I use cauliflower, but you could use left over mash potatoes or new mash potatoes.  For that recipe you will have to ask my sister, or Roland.  But I can tell you about Cauliflower!!

Add your riced cauliflower (best fresh) to a sauce pan that has some melted butter in it. Stir it occasionally so it doesn't fry.  Cut the brie into pieces and stir it into the cauliflower  and let it melt into it.  When the cauliflower seems to have absorbed both the butter and cheese add a little cream and stir till the cream is incorporated into the cauliflower and it holds shape.

not my pic I got caught up in a book Roland reads while I'm cooking (oops)

Ok!  so oven dials to 200C or around 400 F to pre-heat. Butter the inside of your casserole dish. Take the gravy and scoop it in to the greased dish.  On top add the cauliflower mixture, or mashed potatoes.  I like to stop here  and just put it in the oven for about 15 mins, but Roland's family is used to putting cheese on it, so rewind!  sprinkle shredded cheese on the top and then put it in the oven for 15 mins.  Remember everything is already cooked and you could eat it as is, but 15 mins more waiting is worth it for the crispy texture  of the top layer be it cauliflower potatoes or cheese crispy is wonderful!


Sorry about no finished pictures....  but what can you do!

Tomorrow, Zucchini lasagna!

Muwah!

Well I did start off taking pictures of the roast pot pie creation, but everyone ate it before I could get a picture of the final product!!  Literally the spoon was in it before I even sat down!  It was loved by all, which makes it ok!

I saw Rango today and went shopping. Unfortunatly Roland's mom also went shopping and we bought the same things... I will be cooking up a storm! I had some watermelon for desert. I know its not on my diet, but honestly what's the point of being someplace that has fresh fruits and veggies and not partaking in your favorite one!  I will make it up some how.

I will get the recipe, for you tomorrow! I have had a headache most of the day.  So I'm going to take it easy sit back and play Dragon Age 2 again. This time we are a Rogue!  Rawr!

Muwah!

My friend wanted to see my engagement ring.  Since I didn't do much today, which these 3 days of laying low have been super nice, I decided to just take some pics and call it a day.

you can slightly see the brownish tint in the diamond as its on the white background.

Here you can see the sparkle and the pretty cut.

You can see its size.

Now the man responsible for picking it out!  What good taste he has!

Muwah!

Today  was long, and unexciting. I have figured out that I do not like flavored cans of tuna. I will stick with the normal spring water kind.  Roland makes super mash potatoes. And that there's only 7 weeks till my wedding. Oh my goodness.

Sculpture by the Sea

This event is a month long  exhibition of art on the beach and the dunes of Cottesloe Beach.

Always crowded  Cottesloe beach  is amazing with it's white sand and amazing aqua colored Indian Ocean.

The crystal blue and green ocean views go for as far as your eyes can see.

Right on the beach where some pretty entertaining statues. Here are a few of them.

I particularly love the last one. only because it reminded me of when I would ask a question to my students while in Japan. With all the raised hands so excited hoping to be picked.

This red guy happened to be the creepiest one there. That little girl was brave to stand so close! Not to mention he was totally NAKIE!

I love the layers in this picture! Click to enlarge it  so you can see all the details.

 This guy was standing way out at the end of  the rocky wave break.  We were feeling hungry so we walked back up the beach to the restaurants.

Drunk with sunshine we shared a salad fries and grilled fish in this little restaurant across from the beach. Everything tasted so good! We were so  hungry, and happy to be in the shade.  We had such a nice time. I really enjoyed it.

As fot today we played videogames and nursed our bug bites. Roland's mom made a wonderful roast dinner and it was a nice peaceful day.  A rest after all the running around we did yesterday!

Muwah!