Creamy Chicken and Avocado Pasta

Hello 
Last night I made this pasta, I seem to make it about once a month or so, It's 'M's'favourite and the pasta he requests it the most. And if 'A' could say it in a sentence he'd also request it. Right now he calls it "hmmmmm mmmmm" 

 Don't you just love the combination of feta and avo? Or  if you're not an Avo fan the Creamy Chicken is yummy all by its self too. I also sometimes swop out the chicken for bacon.

INGREDIENTS:
 serves 2 

250ml cream
2 chicken breasts cut into strips
1 chicken stock cube/ or recommended qty of powder chicken stock.
1 diced onion
some butter for frying the onion
pasta for 2 people
1 whole avo
feta

Fry up the onion and partially cook the chicken strips,season to your liking
Break up the stock cube into the pan and add in the cream.
Simmer gently until the sauce thickens and the chicken is fully cooked. If it needs some help to thicken stir in some corn flour.
Cook the pasta according to the package instructions.
Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta, top with sliced/diced avo and feta.

This truly is the YUMMIEST pasta ever! 

I entered this particular recipe into a magazine pasta competition and actually was selected as one of the top 10, my recipe is in a magazine :) 

L

Easy Chocolate mousse

I have a super easy, super yummy recipe for chocolate mousse. This is my all time favourite dessert recipe. But sadly I only make it about 3 times a year. On my Hubby's birthday, on Christmas eve, and for my birthday. So we have just had it last weekend :) I really should make it more often.

INGREDIENTS

250 g chocolate

250ml cream

3 eggs ( to be separated)

5g gelatine powder

10g water

METHOD

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. A double boiler is a glass dish that fits into the top of  pot that has water in it. You bring the water to a boil and the heat melts the chocolate without water getting into it, or the chocolate getting burnt. When its melted remove from the stove plate.

Separate the eggs , put the yolks aside for now.

Dissolve the gelatine in the water, it will go spongy after a few minutes,

Beat the egg whites to peak stage.

Whisk the cream also to peak stage.

Beat the egg yolks and mix into the melted chocolate. It will go a weird texture here.

 Stick the spongy gelatine into the microwave for around 10 seconds to melt it.

Mix the melted gelatine into the chocolate mixture.

Mix the cream into the chocolate mixture

Fold in the beaten egg whites, don't over mix now.

Put into a serving bowl ( or individual bowls) and put into the fridge.

I prefer to make it the evening before I intend to serve it, that way it sets properly.

This is the perfect valentines dessert, you even have time to make a practice round before then ;)

My sweet 'A' whisking the egg whites

I didn't get a picture of the completed dessert, it was eaten way too quickly.

Enjoy :)
L
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Mummascribbles

Butternut soup

There is nothing better than a nice bowl of soup with a slice or two of crusty warm, fresh bread with butter melting into it.

One of our favourites is Butternut soup, one reason being we grew butternuts this last season. Things always seem to taste better vwhen they're home grown. :)

I mix up my own curry powder, I am allergic to chillies and tomatoes so my blend works well for us, not too spicey but flavourful all the same.


INGREDIENTS: 

About half a butternut (size dependant) approximately 500g or so. Chopped up.
1-2 potatoes diced
1 onion diced (not pictured)
1tsp curry powder
1.5 litres of water/ or stock (I tend to make my own chicken stock and use that)
1 can of chickpeas/butterbeans/canellini beans
some cream for stirring in when it's served 

our beautiful butternut we grew! :)

 Fry the onion in butter in a large pot, add the water/stock, the veggies and curry powder. Bring the water to  a gentle boil and cook until the veggies are soft.

Remove from the heat and use a stick blender (or any blender that will blend the soup nicely) Blend until smooth and serve. Add cream on top. I love to make swirly patterns :)

Yummy oozy, buttery gluten free bread

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Pieced pastimes

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Gluten Free Chicken Schnitzel

Being Gluten Free I am limited to what and where I can eat out, so  I improvise and make my own restaurant style food at home. This time it was Chicken Schnitzel otherwise known as Crumbed Chicken. 

 I am a free style kind of cook, I rarely follow a recipe exactly  and guess the quantities of the ingredients I use and more often than not it turns out really good, I guess you can say I'm good at guessing ;)  Baking I do follow the recipe.  So the Cheese Sauce  is a guessing game of quantities.                                        

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken breasts- 1 per person

2-3 eggs beaten

Crumbs ( I use orgran gluten free crumbs)

Oil for deep frying

Veggies for the side 

Cheese Sauce:

50g of butter (about)

Corn flour to thicken

1-2 cups of milk

Grated cheese- as much as you would like

Season to your liking.

Melt the butter  and add in enough corn flour to thicken. Pour in the milk and stir until its smooth, simmer for a few minutes until it thickens, add in some grated cheese, stir until the cheese is melted. If it goes too thick too quickly add more milk. Should it go clumpy use a whisk to get rid of the lumps.

                                                                     

Dip the chicken breasts into the beaten eggs : both sides so that the crumbs will stick to it.

                                             The crumbs I use

 Dip and coat the Chicken breasts in the crumbs.

Heat the oil and deep fry on both sides to cook through.
Cook any veg that you want to serve with your meal. With this I cooked up some potato wedges and some Eggplant/Brinjal. It's also fantastic served with Creamed Spinach instead of a Cheese Sauce.

YUM!

And just for fun, my cat once again inspecting things this time Finlay :)

Enjoy this quick and simple Gluten Free Meal :)

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Our three peas

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole recipe

I love love love this recipe, I always make a huge dish that serves us 2 meals, that way I get a night off (meaning I clean/do laundry/fold laundry instead).
Its such a quick and easy yet delicious dinner.

You can use any kind of vegetable in this bake, something like a baby marrow (zucchini), aubergine (bringal/eggplant), butternut cooks nicely in the oven. I use a rectangular baking dish. Now on to the recipe :)

Ingredients

4 skinless boneless chicken breasts cut into strips

Enough rice for 4 to 6 people , any rice works. We use basmati.

500ml cream.

Chicken stock : 2 cubes or powder according to the brand's instructions.

Veggies chopped into rounds/slices

Grated cheese.

Ham cut into slices.

Method

Precook the rice.

Precook and season the chicken strips.

Bring the cream and the chicken stock to a gentle simmer, it will thicken.

Now start layering your ingredients: rice on the bottom, then chicken, then veggies, then lay out the slices of ham.

Pour on the creamy mixture

Top with grated cheese.

And bake for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (360 F)

Yummy!

L

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Gluten free Peanut butter biscuits

Being Gluten free often means no treats :(  unless of course you make them yourself. I actually don't make too many treats in general, but this is a great, quick recipe. Even if you get unexpected visitors this can be ready within about 30 minutes including baking time 

Ingredients: 
* 1 cup brown sugar  
* 1 tsp. vanilla essence
* 1 egg
* 1 cup peanut butter

Preheat the oven to 180°. Mix the ingredients by hand until well mixed
Spoon onto a greased baking sheet , leaving a gap between each Biscuit. Bake 10 minutes until slightly set. Let cool to set completely.

These are divine! Crisp on the outside and kinda gooey on the inside and so mouthwatering. They do need to cool down before eating  because they are very soft when you first take them out of the oven. They will crumble! Which is what happened with the first few of my first batch. I left the second batch on the baking tray a bit before lifting them off.

Enjoy!

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Marmite squares gluten free (or not)

Hi again!

Today I am in a foodie mood. My mom used to bake this when my sister and I were children, it was one of my favourites because strangely I have a savoury  tooth vs a sweet one!

Marmite/oxo spread/bovril/veggiemite can be inter-changed although I did find that the oxo spread didn't dissolve like it should.

INGREDIENTS:


2 cups of flour (gluten free or normal flour, both work)

4 tsp Baking powder
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup of oil
2 eggs beaten
1 cup of  grated cheese (I like to add extra feta cheese to make it double cheese)

Mix the above ingredients together and place in a greased ovenproof dish.
Bake for 20min at 190 degrees Celsius.

SAUCE:

1/2 cup of butter (before its melted)
1-2 tsps of Marmite/oxo spread/bovril/veggiemite

dissolve together in the microwave and pour over the top when it comes out of the oven.

Cut into squares/slices

Enjoy a yummy savoury treat :)

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