Weight Watchers Recipe Cards From The 70's - Really you HAVE to check these out!!!

AB just sent me this link to a site called Candyboots.com which has a hilarious link to some 70's Weight Watchers recipe cards. Brilliant!! Thanks AB (and Ren who I think they originated from)!

They are seriously disturbing - not so much the food which is disturbing in it's self but food stylist must have been on some kind of trip!!! Really, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!!

So for a slimmers culinary trip from the 70's click HERE!

Thanks CandyBoots

THE DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES OR HOW AM I GOING TO SURVIVE 6 WEEKS SCHOOL HOLIDAYS!!

Grotbag had his last day of Kindy yesterday. Because we are now in Summer here in Australia the School year is a Calendar year so Summer school holidays also started yesterday!


This was Grotbag on his first day of Kindy. I can't believe he has completed the year and has amased a great group of friends as have I with the Kindy mums.


He looks so young in this picture and I have to remember that he was only 3 when he started Kindy! He was just a baby!!!


Of course big changes happened in the first week of his Kindy in that I gave birth to his little brother so our household had alot of adjusting to do - and so I am really proud of him!


Below is Grotbag now - a precotious 4 year old who often sounds like he is 14 - God help me when the teenage years come!



So, we got a letter home saying that the last day of school there would be an incursion where a Magician would come in, they could dress up (Ben 10 is Grotbags hero of choice) and to bring a plate of "healthy" party food!


Now I am all for the healthy stuff, but come on it's the last day of their first ever year at school! So I have rebelled on behalf of and made Mini White Christmas Chocolate Crackles.

Recipe is from my Happy Baby Womans Weekly Cookbook and are really easy:

35gm Rice Bubble/Crispies or whatever you call them in the country your from

35gm Coco Pops (pretty sure these are universal)

70gm of Mini M&Ms

200gm of Melted White Chocolate

Mix all the ingrediants in a bowl and divide into 24 mini muffin cases then refrigerate for at least 10 minutes!

Now that is party food!!!!

Matt Moran Chicken

You know how they say the camera never lies? Well mine was telling big fat porkies when I took this picture last night of our meal. It doesn’t look half as nice in the picture as what it looked like on the plate – or maybe it is my crap photography. Anyway you must give this recipe a go (despite the picture) especially if you like spicy food.

Matt Moran for those of you who don’t know is a very well known chef in Australia. He is part owner and Head Chef at ARIA an award winning restaurant that over looks the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour.

He appeared at the Good Food & Wine Show here in Perth in August and I was lucky enough to see him cook this dish. I also ate the very same dish at the Celebrity Restaurant they had set up there and loved it so much I thought I would give it a go at home. It’s not really called Matt Moran Chicken, it’s called Chicken Sauté with Chorizo & Chickpeas but that is just way too long so I like my little nickname for it better. And it is a really easy dish – especially if you have people coming over for dinner. I have cooked it 3 times now and it has come out great every time and everyone’s plates were clean as whistles. It’s now one of Hubby’s favourites.

I have taken some of the ‘Chefiness’ if there is such a word; out of it just to make it easier. But essentially it is Matt’s recipe and is, quite simply, delicious. The only thing to try and get hold of is the Harissa paste which I found quite hard to get and then found it at my local IGA 200 meters from my house. Typical!

Ingredients
(Serves 4)

1.2kg of chicken (preferably free range) pieces (I have used just breast, or a combination of breast, thigh & drumstick, just make sure they are cut into pieces)
olive oil
1x brown onion, finely chopped
2x cloves of garlic
100g of chorizo sausage
1x 400g can of chickpeas, drained
2x tsp cumin
2x tsp coriander
40g harissa paste
300ml chicken stock
½ head of cabbage shredded
Bunch of chopped parsley
Salt and pepper for seasoning

(My) Method

Heat a large saucepan with olive oil, large enough to hold the chicken and season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Brown the chicken for approximately 5-6 minutes until golden all over. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.

If needed, add a touch more oil and then sweat the onions, garlic and sliced and cook gently for 2 minutes before adding the chickpeas, ground cumin, coriander and Harissa paste. Return the browned chicken to the pan and cover with the chicken stock. Place a lid on and simmer for 10 minutes.

Steam the cabbage, drain off any excess water and arrange in the base of 4 bowls or plates.

Divide the chicken, chickpeas and chorizo sausage between the bowls and garnish with the parsley.

I also served it with some crunchy garlic bread and a green dressed salad.

Enjoy!

This is divine with a nice glass of Chardonnay. They served this at the show with Fifth Leg Chardonnay 2007, which has “…melon and stone fruit flavours balanced by citrus notes and a hint of oak.”

Hope you give it a go and when you do, pop back and let me know what you think!

Banoffie Pies - Yum!

Look divine don't they!

Let me start by saying that I can actually take no

credit for this "recipe" or really it should be called a "Put Together". My BFF Anastasia Beaverhausen (lets call her AB) brought them to my house as a desert for a dinner party I threw.

The best dinner parties are always when the guests bring there own little something something!!

Another guest had commented that she had made them herself a few weeks before and it took her 2 hours. AB snorted and said "these babies took me 5 minutes and 4 teaspoons!!"

We all leaned in closer for the secret to these delicious little morsels of delight. I LOVE to cook but am not that keen on baking so this was heaven to my ears. So today I share the secret with you. The ones in the picture above are ones I made this morning to take to my Auntie's birthday get together this afternoon. My step-dad has one of the sweetest teeth I know so really they are for him. He loves it when I "bake"!! (Shhh!)

AB's Banoffie Pies

12 Shortcrust Tartlet Cases

1 Can of Nestle Top'n'Fill Caramel

1 Banana

1 Tub of Thick "Dollop" cream (no whipping here!!)

1 Cadbury Flake

Method

Open packet of tartlets.

Open can of Top'n'Fill.

Spoon caramel into tart cases.

Cut banana into thin slices and place on top of Caramel

Dollop cream on top of bananas.

Sprinkle flake onto cream! Refrigerate till needed or scoff at will!

Voila - Banoffie Pies!!

Some notable notes. I used light cream to be a bit more virtuous and also made two with canned light whipped cream as Bling will be there today and she is on Weight Watchers (they work out to about 5 points). But AB made hers with double thick cream and they were delicious. I didn't actually use the whole can of the caramel there was still some left at the bottom and I only used half the carton of cream.

So, please feel free to make your shortcrust pastry, boil your can of condensed milk and whip your cream - but for me I am more than happy to say that I "threw these together" and literally mean it!

Now I have more time to do my hair!