Sewing. Motherhood. Domestic Engineering.

Caramelised Leek & Fetta Filo Triangles   10g butter 2 tbs olive oil 2 leeks, finley sliced 1 tbs brown sugar 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1/2 cup (125mL) chicken stock 150g fetta, crumbled filo pastry sheets 2 tbs sesame seeds   When I made these I reduced the recipe to 1/3 just in case it was a flop. In the future I will make the full recipe, make all the triangles and freeze them so I can cook them when I want them :) This recipe came from a book but I can't remember which one       Trim and wash the leek thoroughly to get all the dirt out. Preheat oven 200 degrees celcium for fan forced. Line a baking tray with paper.     Finely slice leek and fry with sugar for 5 minutes in melted butter and oil in a medium heat pan. Add stock and simmer for 5 minutes, until msost of liquid evaportates.     Allow the leek to cool then stir in fetta.   Cut folo sheets lengthway...

Nothing nicer than a Cherry Bakewell UNLESS it's a Festive Bakewell!! Can get these on special at Coles for about $4 a box of six. They're very cute with a little Christmas deco on top instead of a cherry and they taste exactly the same as the classic Bakewell.   The first time I ever had a Cherry Bakewell was in Abingdon, UK and I was hooked. Super excited when I saw that these are a pretty successful import in Australia :)

I LOVE CHIPS AND GRAVY!!   This is me surrendering to a craving...I ate so much I had difficulty breathing and chest pain - well worth it :)

Saw Lorraine Pascale's TV show and watched her make Pain D'Epi bread and it looked really easy to make a super amazing. I've never made bread because my husband always does it so though I would give it a chop :P The only place online that I could find this recipe was on Good food, Shared by Lisa Duffy so thanks for that. I won't bother typing the recipe here again, just follow the link to get that. The only think I did different was to add some bread improver (1% of the flour, eg. 100g flour = 1g of bread improver). I did actually knead the dough instead of using the bread maker, turns out it is really good exercise and quite satisfying. Didn't have a spray bottle for the water so I just wet my hands and flicked the water on - worked fine. Finally, eat it HOT with some melted butter! Was very tasty. Will make this next time we are entertaining guests with some dips and pastes. 

Got this recipe from the March edition of Super Food Ideas magazine (thanks Sue). Literally just finished eating this for dinner and it is great. Loving leeks so this is really good. It's healthy and tasty! 4.5/5 stars! Serves 4, Time 45 mins (unless you are a ninja like me) Ingredients: - 1/3 cup of rice - 1 tbs olive oil - 1 large leek, halved and sliced thinly - 6 slices prosciutto, chopped - 8 eggs (I only had 7 and it turned out perfect) - 1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese - 100g mixed salad leaves (I just used normal lettuce) 1. Cook rice like you normally would 2. Heat oven to 180 degrees fan forced 3. Grease and line a 20cm square baking dish with baking paper 4. Fry leeks and prosciutto in oil (in a pan) until leeks become soft 5. Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl, lightly beat them, add leek mixture, cooked rice and 1/2 of the cheese. 6. Mix it up and pour into the prepared baking dish to cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes (25mins came out perfect fo...

At a work Christmas party one of my lovely friends made gingerbread reindeer. As I was eating one I made the revelation that they are in fact gingerbread men but turned upside down and iced to look like reindeers. I thought this was truly amazing and clever so did some googling on the 'gingerbread man conversion' and found these creative characters on Sydney Christmas Bucket List . The best conversions I have seen - each reindeer has a different expression (see left) on his face and the icing quality (skill) is very high. I had a go at making some a few days ago, the first few were hit and miss but after a few tweaks started to get better quality products. Will definitely try again next year but until then I will just look at these cute little fellas :) Happy gingerbreading :D 

  Guest Blog by CartBox   CartBox specialises in cooking, baking and all things Asian :) Click the CartBox link to the right to see all of her other guest blogs. I remember not too many years ago trying a rum ball for the first time, and wow, I hated it... Now this is a little disappointing as for many people in Australia, rum balls are a must at Christmas, so I always feel a little left out. I have always enjoyed making the rum balls with my mum nearly every Christmas, but of course never eat them myself. A couple of years ago I discovered chocolate balls, they are for all of you out there who don't like the taste of rum balls. However... I went to the bakery last week to sadly discover that they hadn't made them this Christmas. So what did I do? I found an even better tasting recipe! I make no exaggeration that I could eat these everyday and die happy. Not to mention, it's super simple! I did however tweak it to my liking ...

Guest Blog by CartBox   CartBox specialises in cooking, baking and all things Asian :) Click the CartBox link to the right to see all of her other guest blogs.      I have recently been baking quite a lot of  patty cakes and a lot of my  friends have been asking me for a tutorial to show them how I decorate using icing.  The piping bag I use is a Standard Loyal 2-34 with a size 7 Loyal nozzle, it is the best piping bag I've used so far, it also appears to be the most available  piping bag in my area. The video will give a better example of the technique i use to decorate my patty cakes a nd also has my patty cake and icing recipe.  

Guest Blog by CartBox  CartBox specialises in cooking, baking and all things Asian :) Click the CartBox link to the right to see all of her other guest blogs. I know this is a pretty common thing to have but surprisingly not that many people  actually know how to make egg and lettuce sandwiches. So because I've been eating these like egg's going out of fashion I thought I'd show everyone how to make them,  because to be honest they're simple to make but pretty damn good. Now this will be a recipe for one full sandwich. I use one egg per sandwich, so if you want more sandwiches, use more eggs. I just make it for myself so one is spot on. Firstly, boil water in a small pot and once boiled, use a spoon to lower the egg into the pot to avoid cracking it. Cook it for 10 minutes. Tip the hot water out of the pot and fill it with cold water. Then after 2 minutes tip that water out and fill it again  with cold water. continue this every couple of minutes unti...

Guest Blog by CartBox   CartBox specialises in cooking, baking and all things Asian :) Click the CartBox link to the right to see all of her other guest blogs. Recently found a fantastic brownie tray when I was out shopping and because it was on special I just had to get it! At first I thought the frame in the center was used to cut even slices of brownie, but it's actually used during the cooking process to get the perfect piece of brownie, because the edge piece is always the best! The instructions recommend that you place the brownie tray in another tray because there is a small hole in the base (that gets covered by the edge of the tray) that a runny batter may seep out of, but I didn't have a problem with this because my batter was so thick. I probably didn't choose the best recipe to try the tray out with, but it turned out fine. It was just a bit thick and required some spreading around the pan. There were a few uneven pie...

Guest Blog by CartBox   CartBox specialises in cooking, baking and all things Asian :) Click the CartBox link to the right to see all of her other guest blogs.   Went shopping at Trade Secret this afternoon and found the cutest ice block molds ever!! They were only $12.95 so I decided now that the weather is getting warmer I definitely need them. They're shaped like the cutest little bugs! It comes with three stands holding two molds each. I filled them up with cordial for my first try and I can't wait for them to be ready. They're well supported and the cutest things ever! I filled them up with cordial for my first try and I can't wait for them to be ready. Instructions 1 - Fill molds to top 2 - Gently lower stick into each mold 3 - Freese molds for 4-6 hours 4 - Run each mold under warm tap water 5 - Gently pull the ice block out of mold 6 - Enjoy!

Guest Blog by CartBox   CartBox specialises in cooking, baking and all things Asian :) Click the CartBox link to the right to see all of her other guest blogs. Everyone would be used to the typical Maggi 2 minute Noodles...or maybe the Fantastic 2 Minute Noodles...after a while they all start tasting the same...Not too long ago my friend introduced me to the best instant noodles ever. Hot and Spicy - Shin Ramyun (Korean noodles). You can buy these noodles at any coles or Woolworths and they are super cheap! I can't remember exactly how much but about $1.50. However, if you want the full flavour experience, the Korean way, I suggest that you watch this video -  How to make Korean Ramen.   I'm subscribed to this couple on Youtube, their videos about Korea are fantastic! Generally because of lack of ingredients, I stick to an egg cooked into it (like in the video) and a slice of Coon Cheese on top, which when melted makes the noodles absolutely delici...

Guest Blog by CartBox   CartBox specialises in cooking, baking and all things Asian :) Click the CartBox link to the right to see all of her other guest blogs. Ever heard of Melon Pan? No, it's not something used or made from a melon. In fact...melon has nothing to do with it so I'm not entirely sure why it's called melon pan. Pan however is Japanese for bread, so it really means melon bread. I guess it's melon bread because it looks a bit like a melon. Anyway, melon pan is basically a sweet bread roll with a biscuit dough crust and covered in sugar. It is absolutely delicious! Unfortunately there aren't any shops where I live that sell melon pan, so I have to make my own. I'm subscribed to the Youtube account Cooking With Dog , a cooking videos by a Japanese lady known as "chef" and she cooks next to a cute dog named Francis who is the host of the show and does the voice over in English, with a French accent. Most of the reci...

Guest Blog by CartBox     CartBox specialises in cooking, baking and all things Asian :) Click the CartBox link to the right to see all of her other guest blogs. I was sifting through some of my favourite Youtuber's videos the other day and a video on how to make chocolate bowls popped up in the related videos list. Thought it sounded pretty interesting so I decided to give it a go. It's rather basic, simply blow up a small water balloon to your desired size and dip them in melted chocolate. (Don't forget to wash and dry the balloons before dipping them in the chocolate). Sit them on a baking tray covered in baking paper (or wax paper), with the knot on top. Doing this will also create a flat base. Leave it in the fridge for about 5 minutes (or until hard) then repeat the process, the double dip will help create a thicker bowl so it wont break. When they're finished simply poke a hole into the thicker part of the...

Yam, kumara or sweet potato, what ever you call it it is hard to make into a good chip - not for us! Bede made sweet potato tempura last night with dinner and they were amazing! Will get Bede to post the recipe for the batter in the comments later.