Day 185 - Chicken Tikka

I am loving my new womens weekly slow cooker cookbook!

This recipe took about 5 minutes to prepare, 4 and half hours to cook, and about 5 minutes to devour.
Next time I would do it on the bone.

Here is the recipe;

In a slow cooker set to high, toss in 8 chicken thighs, 2 onions sliced thinly, 2 tins of tomato and 200g Tikka paste. Stir it up, put on the lid and sit back - the hard work is done!

I served with rice, a sprinkle of coriander and yoghurt.

Morry had a drinks thing that was meant to finish at 8, but was always going to run over time. I made the rice in the rice cooker. This was a good dish to choose, as we ate about an hour after we meant to, but the slow cooker and rice cooker kept everything hot without drying out too much.

Day 184 - roasted tomato soup

This is a Donna Hay recipe from one of her winter magazines a few years ago (when I still used to buy them. Nowadays they are simply a rehash of old recipes with little changes and funky photography. Lovely, but not worth buying them again!)

So the soup was awesome, here is the recipe;

Oven roast some tomatoes, red onion, garlic, thyme and olive oil with lots of salt. Roast for a good half hour. Meanwhile heat some chicken stock with a dollop of tomato paste. Then blend the lot in a blender - the fabulous kenwood lets you blend hot stuff!

Serve with toasted bread, spread with goats cheese. I used my seed bread, or fred's bread as it is now known in this house.

Day 183 - Mothers Day

Morry made a chilli tomato pasta sauce for dinner. We went to the Maryatville pub for lunch. The food is a bit ordinary, the beer list is an outrage but the enclosed undercover playground ensures they will always be booked out! The food was all gone before we took a photo and the wine was almost out too - damn those vanishing bottles of wine!

It was a fun day with my gorgeous boys.

Day 182 - Perfect coq au vin

This actually was the perfect Coq au vin and here is the recipe that Morry used

Click here for the Perfect Coq au Vin recipe

The brussel Sprouts werent part of the recipe but they are absolutley my favourite veg. Also, Morry made WAY too much. Neither of us could manage more than about half our dinner... leftovers for the boys.

Day 181 - Balsamic Glazed Veal

I have a new cookbook!

The Womens Weekly Slowcooker v2 found its way into my shopping trolley recently and it is much better than the first one.

This dish tasted fabulous, really rich flavours because of the slow cooking time.

Dust some Osso Bucco in flour and brown in a frypan. Transfer to the slow cooker. Pan fry some sage in butter, add 125ml Balsamic Vinegar and reduce for a couple of minutes, then add 1 cup of chicken stock. Transfer to the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours. We served it with polenta and steamed beans.

YUM'O

Day 180 - Cheese and wine carpet picnic

Jax came for wine and cheese so I went to the market and bought a few things.

Salted roast nuts, grapes, felafel with tzatziki and a morocan lentil dip, some bread rolls from the 'Say Cheese' shop, some Brie, a black label Kangaroo Island Cheddar which we had with the stand out of the night - caramalized fig jam.

We sat on the rug and drank wine and munched our way through the lot!

Jax bought dessert nibbles but we didnt get that far - next time

Day 179 - Crispy Chinese Chicken

The Instant Cook, Donna Hay, Crispy Chinese Chicken

A chicken breast per person
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
2 1/2 teaspoons chinese five spice powder
1 tablespoon peanut oil

Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with the salt and five spice.

Heat the oil in a fry pan and cook the chicken for about 4 minutes a side or until just cooked through.

Cut into pieces and serve with steamed snow peas tossed in some hoisin sauce.

Perfect!