Oatmeal and Sunflower(or peanut) Butter Choc Chip Cookies

125g softened margarine

1/4 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup demerara sugar

1 small egg or 1/2 jumbo egg, beaten

2 dsp sunflower seed paste (or peanut butter)

3 drops cocon8ut essence

1/2 + 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp bicarb (baking soda)

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup oats

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 - 1/3 cup chocholate chips (or chopped up milk chocolate)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius

Beat the maragrine and suage together, add the sunflower paste, stir in, gradually add in the beaten egg while beating, then stir in the coconut essence. Mix in the flour , bicarb (baking soda), salt, and oats, mix. Then add the raisins and choc chips, stir in.

Place tblsfulls onto a prepared cookie sheet (I use a non stick silicone bake mat), and bake for 16- 18 mins or until golden at the edges.

Cool. Feel free to drizzle with MORE chocolate.

Mustardy Chicken on Beany Spinach and Mushrooms

Serves 1
1 small chicken breast, skinned, boned, seasoned with celery salt
1 tsp oil
1 tbls creme fraiche
1tbls wholegrain mustard
2 tsp water
celery salt

Beany Spinach and Shrooms :
1 tsp oil
4 portabello mushrooms, sliced
2 handfulls raw baby spinach
1/4 cup tinned borlotti beans, drained
1 slice black forest ham
celery salt

In a small non stick pan heat tsp oil till hot, sear chicken breast one minute, turn over , sear other side for another min, add creme fraiche, mustard, a little celery salt and water, lid on and simmer 10 - 12 mins or until breast is cooked.

Beany Spinach and Shrooms : while the chicken is cooking, heat the other tsp oil in a small saucepan, add the mushrooms, sizzle for a few mins, add the baby spinach, and the ham, and the beans, cook over medium heat until the spinach is cooked - few mins, season with celery salt.

Place a pile of the spinach mixture in the centre of a plate, top with the chicken and pour over the mustard sauce from the pan. Yum.

DIY Pizzas

The Best Pizza Dough (courtesy Justin Bonello):
makes about 5 medium - ish pizzas

500g flour
pinch salt
10g instant yeast
325ml luke warm water



Bungle into bread machine on dough setting, or knead by hand 10 mins.
Let rise in a warm place in a lightly oiled bowl, with a lightly oiled piece of clingwrap over the top.
Should take about 30 mins to double in size.

Preheat oven 220 degrees C or hotter if it can go.

In the meantime, unless you are equipped with a couple of those super-snazzy pizza dishes, the ones with a gazillion holes in the bottom , feel free to whip those babies out round about now, else if you are like me, and have superior skills in finding something else that does the job just as well , minus the bucks, hoik out a roll of tinfoil, tear off 2 large rectangles, liberally dous in spray n cook, and dust with a smidgen of flour....

Your dough probably hasnt risen completely yet, so now is the time to scratch around in the fridge for some pizza toppings, and do some prep ...cooking , chopping, grating, blitzing, shredding, shaving,peeling, dicing.

Topping Ideas : Bacon, Chicken, Chorizo, Camemert,spring onion, caramalised onions,avocado, sauteed mushrooms, mozzarella, chedder, feta, goats cheese...

Oh and dont forget you need some tomato sauce for the bases, I used a shop bought tomato pasta sauce out of a jar...tsk, tsk.

Right so pizza time :

Knock the dough down a bit, grab a fistful sized blob (or if you are a total nerd like me you can put it on a scale when nobody's looking and weight out a 43g ball)

Roll out VERY thinly on a floured surface (2-3mm), place onto prepared tinfoil, smear with tomato sauce, and go nuts with the toppings

Bake 13 - 15 mins or until edges are turning crsiy golden , I find 2 pizzas can go in at the same time, but the lower shelf pizza needs a little extra crispeneing time in the oven :o)

Spend the rest of the evening coming up with names for your pizzas....

Almost Tikka Chicken lunch for one (Low GI Bonus)

The 'almost' bit comes from there being hardly any tikka .... Stomach was growling, madly grappled at the first things within arms reach in the fridge..
1 tbls sunflower oil
50g presliced baby corn (thank you woolworths)
50g asparagus, cut into bite sized lengths
Almost a 1/4 cup frozen petit pois peas
1/2 tsp tikka masala paste out of a jar (again, thank you woolies)
1 cup leftover roast chicken cubes
1 tbls creme fraiche
celery salt to taste

Heat oil in small saucepan, add the baby corn and asparagus, sizzle and sear for 5 mins on medium heat. Add the tikka paste, peas, cook another minute. Add the chicken, creme fraiche and celery salt. Stir, check seasoning, into bowl. Best eaten whilst watching 'Astro Boy' with a preschooler for the 15th time.

This would have also been nice with some cashew nuts/peanuts added to the mix...

Very satisflying to a growling tummy....Low GI too...

Chicken Pot Pie 4 a (sick) Pre schooler

Serves 1 hungry preschooler :

Filling:
1/2 cooked chicken breast (from a leftover roast), or cook your own.
1 tbls margarine
2 small spring onions, sliced
1/2 medium carrot, cubed smallish, and cooked in water in microwave until soft about 5 mins, drain.
+- 2/3 cup milk
scant tsp chicken stock powder
1 heaped tsp maiziena (cornflour), mixed in a little water.

Pot Pie Dough :
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp celery salt
24g margarine
+- 1 tbls milk

Preheat oven to 190 Degrees Celcius

Filling : Heat the oil in a small saucepan, cook the spring onions and carrots together for 5 mins on medium heat until the onions are softer. Add the milk, stock powder, simmer a couple mins, thicken with the cornflour and add the cooked chicken to warm through. Pour into 10-12cm diameter ovenproof bowl at least 10cm deep.

Dough :Rub the margarine into the dry ingredients, add enough milk to make dough start coming together. Form into a ball with floured hands. With floured hands flatten into a disk that will slightly overlap the edges of the bowl, place on top of filling pinch edges of the dough onto the bowl edges, brush with any remaining pie filling liquid in the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 20 - 25 mins until starting to turn golden.

Feed to sick preshcooler, sneak some spoonfuls into your mouth when nobody's looking.

Eezy cheesy Baked Nachos

2 bags Doritos of your choice

Chicken topping option :
4 chicken breasts , cut into small bite sized pieced
2 tbls sunflower oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp crushed garlic powder (or 1 small crushed garlic clove)
salt and pepper to taste

Mince topping option:

400g beef mince
1 tbls sunflower oil
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp crushed garlic powder (or 1 small crushed garlic clove)
salt and pepper to taste

2 big handfuls grated cheddar cheese
1 big handful grated mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup sliced pickled jalepeno chillies

Tomato Ragu (for want of a better more mexican sounding name, I know there is one for it, I just can't for the life of me think of it right now):

1 tin chopped peeled tinned tomatoes
1 tsp olive oil or sunflower oil
1-2 tsp sugar
1/2 -1 tsp salt to taste
pepper

Extras:

4 small Chopped spring onions
Guacamole
Sour cream
Fresh chopped coriander
Extra jaleponos
An abundance of napkins for gooey,cheesy faces and hands.

Method

Ragu: Simmer all ingredients together until reduced by half, set aside.

Chicken/Mince topping: Heat oil, stirfry the chicken/mince with the rest of the seasonings till just cooked, stir in the tomato ragu. Set aside.

Non-stick spray a roasting tin or large baking tray with raised sides. Pour the doritos over the base. Top with the meat topping, spring onions, jalepenos and cheeses. Cook under a hot grill until the cheese has melted and the doritos start to colour, alternatively cook in a hot (200 degree C) oven for 10 n- 15 mins - keep checking the cheese. Once out , sprinkle over some chopped coriander. This is the part I usually forget in all my eagerness to start attacking this terribly addictive stuff.

Place in front of guests twitching fingers with all the extras within easy reach. Pull, scoop, smear, devour. Repeat.

Caramel Cheesecake brownies

Ingredients :

85g margarine, softened
115g chopped milk chocolate
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 tbls cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp caramel essence
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Cheesecake Topping:
200g creamed cottage cheese
2 extra large egg yolks
180g (1/2 x 380g tin)caramel treat (dulce de leche)
1/2 tsp caramel essence

one 23cm square bakin tin, lined well with tin foil which has been been non-stick sprayed like theres no tomorrow.

Preheat oven to 180 degree C

Put the butter and chocolate (break into blocks first) into a medium sized microwaveable glass bowl. Microwave in short 20-30 second bursts until the butter is melted and the chocolate starts to collapse. Remove from microwave, let stand a few mins, and gently stir to melt and mix chocolate in butter.

Beat in the sugar. Then beat in the eggs . Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt,
stir to mis then add the caramel essence and chocolate chips.

Pour into the prepared pan and even out with spatula across bottom.

Cheesecake topping :

Mix all ingredients together, and por over the brownie batter in tin, smooth out.

Bake for 25-30 mins until the chesecake is starting to look set but a bit wobbly still in the middle. It took mine 26 mins.

Might be nice to sprinkle some more chips over the cheesecake topping next time. Wots that? MORE chocolate, you say? OFCOURSE MORE CHOCOLATE....I mean really, what kind of a question is that?

What to do with stale leftover chocolate cake....Chocolate balls

Into food processor :
3 heaped cups choc cake crumbs (I used nigellas old fashioned cake recipe) – blitz to crumbs.

Time to add some liquidy binding agent to make the crums stick together :

2 tbls caramel syrup (I used davincis caramel syrup for coffee) or any flavoured liquer of your choice - Baileys or Amarula Cream would be good.
and
6 large blocks Cadbury's Milk Chocolate , 2 tbls margarine melted together in microwave (I used stork country spread)

Throw into crumbs, pulse a few times.Should be claggy and holding together now, if not add little more liquer/liquid .

Form into 1 inch balls with hands, place on wax wrap on a plate, and freeze 20 mins.

Just before 20 mins freezing is up, melt about 175g – 200g milk chocolate in microwave.

Remove the balls from the freezer, using a tsp, dip the balls in the choc, you kind of plop them in, roll them over and scoop them out.

Put onto wax paper and let set. Store in the fridge or a cool place, preferably out of line of sight :o)

Evil, evil, evil little chocolate balls.