Caramel Chicken

Here is a dish that I think is one of my favourites, it is another one of Bill's. Not to hard either, cooking time around 35 mins

You need

• 8 chicken thighs (skinless) chopped in half
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 red onion sliced
• 3 galic cloves sliced
• fresh black pepper
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 fish sauce

How To

1. heat a large pan over high heat, meanwhile place chicken and oil in bowl and toss
2. cook the chicken in 2 batches for about 2 mins on 1 side or until lightly browned, then turn and cook for 1 minute on other side then remove
3. reduce heat to medium, add oil if needed, then add onion and garlic and cook for 5 min stirring occasionly
4. return chicken to pan and season with pepper, then add the soy sauce, stir to combine then cover the pan and reduce heat to low and cook for 10 min, stirring occasionaly
5. increase heat to high and add sugar, cooking for 3-4 min, or until the sauce is dark and rich
6. add the fish sauce and stir to combine

You can serve with what ever you like, brown rice, mashed potato, greens, the choice is yours.

Chicken Wings with Mash

Here is a dish that definitely won't break the bank, this is an easy weekday dinner that can be done in no time. The chicken wings were $6.98kg (I got 750g, at woolies at deli near the kebabs) and potato's $1.98kg (got 4). That is all the ingredients you will need

How

1. Pre heat oven to 180 and place chicken wings on roasting pan in one layer
2. Place in oven for 30 mins
3. Meanwhile peel and dice the potato's and place in a pot of water and boil till soft
4. Then add the butter and milk and mash

Hey presto, dinner is served

about $8 to feed 2 comfortably

Stir Fired Mussels with Chilli and Blackbean

This was heaven for me, as I love seafood but the Mrs only eats fish and not crustaceans. It is another one for the weekend and will cost about the $20 mark

Just like a bought one

What You Need

• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons of shoaxing wine
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons of fresh ginger, sliced thinly
• 4 spring onions cut into 5 cm battens (use the green stuff, I think you could probably use shallots)
• 4 garlic clove crushed
• 2 large red chillis halved lengthways
• 1 kg mussels
• 2 tablespoons of fermented black beans, rinsed and crushed (these took me forever to find, asian grocers sell them in plastic bags, also known as salted black beans, $2) to crush them i just used the back of a big knife

The How To

1. place sugar, soy, shoaxing wine and 1/4 cup of water in bowl and mix
2. heat a large wok until very hot, then place in oil
3. when oil is hot add the ginger, garlic, spring onion, chilli and black beans and stir for 30 seconds
4. add mussels then toss to combine, then add the sauce
5. cook covered for 2-5 minutes, shaking the pan or mixing until mussels open
6. discard the sauce and serve with whatever you like, I chose rice. 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Found this in Bill's book, a little treat to make, way better than buying cookies, if ya going to eat bad, you may as well make it. This only took about 25 mins

This makes about 16,

You will need

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 4 tablespoons of good quality crunch peanut butter ( I used Dick Smith)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup of plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 100g good-quality milk chocolate ( I used Lindt) chopped

How to

1. Pre heat oven to 190 and line 2 baking trays with baking paper
2. Beat the sugar, butter and peanut butter with electric beaters until creamy and pale
3. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined
4. Sift the flour and baking powder into mixture and fold through, then add the chopped chocolate
5. Roll into balls and place on tray flattenning a little and leaving room for spreading
6. bake for 10-12 mins until golden and cool on wire rack

Sticky Spare Ribs

This another one of Bill's recipe, it is a bit more expensive than our normal dinners but it is the weekend. (I chose a rack of pork instead of a rack of pork spare ribs, still bloody good but, more meat on the rack I reckon anyway).

YUMMMYYY

To start you will need

• 1 rack of pork spare ribs ( i just got 5 ribs of pork) $15
• salt and pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tblsp grated ginger
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 2 tblsp shoaxing wine
• teaspoon chinese five spice $2.50
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce $2
• snow peas $1.27
• rice

All of the other ingredients i had in the cupboard, as you can see this is still a pretty cheap meal costing around $20, this will serve 2 people generously.

What to do

1. pre heat oven to 160
2. season ribs with salt and pepper and roast for 1 hour
3. place the rest of ingredients in a pan (except the snow peas and rice) and cook on med heat for about 15-20 min until thick, stirring occasioning
4. baste ribs with sauce and cook for another 20min continually basting
5. serve with the steamed snow peas and brown rice (you can serve it with whatever you like)

The rack of pork



All the components for the sauce in the pot



What i'm having with it

The finished product

A Healthy Start

My first actual food blog. Today I decided to try my ever first bircher muesli. I have never ate it before but heard everyone going on about it so decided to give it a go

This is a Neil Perry recipe that I found on line which is easy as, you will need

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 cup of water
• 2 granny smith apples
• 2 cups of plain yoghurt
• 6 tablespoons of honey
• strawberries and toasted hazelnuts to serve ( In the fry pan is fine)
• you can use whatever fruit you like or in season to

This would cost less than $10 for 4 big servings, consider going to a cafe for this would cost $8-$14 per serving

You will have to prepare this one overnight first by placing the oats, lemon juice and water in a bowl and combine, then cover and place in the fridge overnight

In the morning add the yoghurt, grated apple and honey to the oats, give it a stir and serve with the strawberries and toasted hazelnuts

This will serve 4 people comfortably,

ENJOY

How it looks when ready



I like to mash everything together, mmm



Dick Smith's Last Stand - ACA

Australian grown food

Here we go, this is officially my first blog.
Good food = good health = happy life. Why do we as Australians continue to buy foreign owned and grown products when in Australia we have the best farming and agricultural products in the world.

I use to be one of those cheap skate shoppers always looking for the bargains, but after doing some research about what chemicals and how that produce is grown I have since changed. I now look at where the product is grown or made before i buy, always trying to buy Australian

Dick Smith is one bloke who is fighting for the farmers, and has the best peanut butter I have tasted, it might be a couple of cents more expensive, but well worth it. Dick has a whole new range of products hitting the market soon and encourage everyone to support the Aussie farmers.

The famous saying "you are what you eat" is true. If you have a sports car that takes premium fuel, your not going to put the crap cheap stuff in? Or are you? It is the same with your body, it wants the best and should be given the best, that is AUSTRALIAN MADE AND GROWN. Look out for these labels when buying food.

Check out his wesite in sites and blogs I like