My Quick potato bake

New post on my Food Bloggie

Olive Dip

I just added an old cross post from my old blog to my food bloggie.

YUM YUM IN THE TUM TUM

Cheap gifts for many people at once - FOOD

Cross posted.

This was made for Christmas, but I think it is a nice idea for all sorts of occasions.


My husband and I made a choice.. our marriage and family over money, we are very lucky that we can survive on his salary but that does not mean without sacrificing certain things and watching money where we can.. which we are ok with :)

So this Christmas I had no dramas going on to warrant forgetting about people.. and wanted to give something to all those my beautiful hubby works with. There are over 20 people and we could not afford gifts for that many.. what can be afforded is a few cooking ingredients and a few hours in the kitchen.

I made a double batch of coconut ice and double batch of rocky road.
Separated them all into their own little bags then wrapped hem in chrissy paper with a card.

From what I hear they were received well and cheered everyone's day up a little, which is all we could ask for..
So for anyone thinking about doing something homemade next yet..do it!. it is a wonderful idea:)

All the separate little packages.

Wrapping them all... boy it seemed to take forever...

My little man, allowed up to inspect, now they are all safely wrapped. And my little man is safe.. Chocolate and kitties is a nono :)

My little man thinking about it.

My little man telling me they are ok and I can go ahead and hand them out.

Christmas Gumdrop Snowman - way cool!

You can click on the picture to be taken to the source.

I was looking for neat little inexpensive things to make for my hubbies workmates as little Christmas surprises and found these gumdrop snowmen, the lady had such an ultra sweet idea!

There are a few other really sweet items on her Flickr page, I especially like the little woodland inhabitants also. What a sweet little thing it would be to come across while out walking :)

Cheap bulk gift idea! Home made

Please click on the picture to be taken to the web site

I was looking for a gift idea that I could make at home for my hubbies 20 workmates. It was supposed to be an assortment of home made candy but I left it too late to get the ingredients.

Then I found the above web- site.

I didn't make the whole thing, because of time and tools. BUT, I did make the cake mix and the tags.. all 20 each of them.

I had my hubbie test it out, as it was males getting the gift, and other than being confused just how much 2 tablespoons of butter was, it turned out great, was easy and fast!

Best of all it tasted great too!!!

I might have to experiment a little with flavourings, ie: try some chili, cinnamon, nutmeg etc...

The only thing I added was the 1/2 cup of choc bits to the gift, as it is not usually a thing a male has lying around, I just put them in separate bags. Most males have eggs and butter so I did not worry about them.

Anyway, this is awesome and thanks so much for Terry Ann for posting it! :)

How to make breading little things easier and quicker

New post here at my food blog YUM YUM

Coconut Ice Cakes

Just added to my food blog: YumYUM

How can I tell if a restaurant is clean in NSW?

Image from COOL PLACE it is actually worth a visit also, some pretty neat things to look/see! :)

Easy!!! You can go here... well it may not tell you all but if it is listed it certainly says .. something *wink*
I found this neat website a bit ago, I think off Ninemsn.
Either way before you book somewhere look up and see if they have had any violations :)

NSW FOOD AUTHORITY

Beef Borsch

Just a quick note that I added Beef Borsch to my food blog. :)

How do I eat the Vegetarian way?

I have been thinking about going Veg for awhile. I mean it's healthier, you never see a fat Veg and well, I like the taste of meat but it grosses me out a little when I eat it and I have to always struggle with forgetting about where it came from so I can eat it.

Anyway, as per my usual self, like to be armed with tons of research and all, I went looking.
There is a whole lot of information out there for new vegetarians about what you should eat and how much to stay healthy but nothing practical.

New vegos like myself, need to see it in practice, what a typical vego week of meals is. Vegos take their eating for granted and forget that for us that have always grown up with meat it is hard to imagine not having it in ANY more meals.

Well I found a wonderful website that actually gives you a Veg menu for a month, to show you and for you to get a feel what vegos eat so you have a base to branch out on.
It even gives you a shopping list! How good is that?!?!

EAT CLOSE TO HOME is the website and the link is on course in the name to click on.

As far as going veg? Well while we only have meat maybe once a week, chicken once and fish once, the rest is veges and I am afraid it will have to stay that way.
See, during my research I found out that a key thing men need, Zinc is from meat. I know that my hubby could take supplements etc, but I think we will just keep it the way it is. I don't want to take chances with my hubby's health, let alone you can't gain muscle mass on a Veg diet.. I can't imagine my hubby twiney hehe

Easy way to slice Meat thinly

So I would imagine that a lot of people prolly know this already, but I am always surprised to find that some people don't know simple tips to make your cooking experience that much easier.

The most simple method is slicing it while still semi frozen.

You know people say cut across the grain etc etc, In my opinion this has more to do with keeping the fat lines intact so your meat will be more tender, if you are cutting your meat semi frozen still it has no relevance on the ease of cutting. However depending on how you are going to use your meat you would want those fat seams intact. but mine is a stir fry hence the thinly sliced meat needed so will not be cooked very long.
Also, your thick fat strips will just pull off easily.

This is how thin I sliced it, but I am not a patient cook, I just went wham "bam thankyou mamm" with it, if you are a little slower and more precise you can get even 1/2 that size, however I find this a nice balance effort Vs outcome.

Ohhh I can' t let you go without one more quick tip.
Have something to hold the meat with otherwise you will get freezer burn, I tried initially with paper towels but as the meat starts to melt so does the towel, so I now use the plastic bag I froze the meat in.

Hope that this brought you a new tip to make your cooking time just a little easier and more fun!! :)

Tomato Paste Freeze

I still have to do my research on which is happier to the Earth to recycle, glass, plastic or aluminium, either way we all know that is is friendly to buy bulk; On our pocket as well as the earth. Less packaging :)
This is a simple little thing I do with my tomato paste, I mean who uses it all in one cooking session?

Spoon it into an ice cube tray, there usually fits just over a tablespoon. which is perfect for measuring when cooking.

Just put the tray into freeze for a couple of hours on the top, after frozen take out, wrap a freezer bag around the tray and fasten with a rubber band.

Then when you need tomato paste there is always some readily available and you don't have to worry about it going off and wasting a large jar. Just pop it in the microwave for 10 or so secs and wallah.. tomato paste on demand! :)

Mind you, be aware of frozen food guidelines as nothing keeps forever even if frozen :)