Day 18: Healthy Apple Walnut Muffins

After a weekend full of eating till my heart's content I thought tonight's recipe should be on the healthy side, so I can start my week off well. I've always been a lover of muffins and baking...but my muffin baking skills usually revolve around a box mix aka I like to cheat when I bake. Not anymore my happy blogging readers. After making these yummy in my tummy muffins I say farewell cardboard box and hello healthy muffins.
I found this recipe online, but as I was mixing everything it was pretty runny and didn't look right, so I added to it and changed a few things so it looked like it should.


Here's what I used:
- 1/4 butter
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 & 1/3 cups wholewheat flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup peeled and diced apple
- 1/2 cup walnuts (chop them up in tiny chunks)
- 1/2 cup oats


How to Make them:


1. To start with, like any other baking recipe preheat your oven to about 200degrees Celsius. Then grease your muffin tin.
2. Put your butter and brown sugar in a microwave proof bowl and put in the microwave for 45seconds to the butter is melted- then mix the two together.
3. In another bowl, place all your dry ingredients; wholewheat flour, oats, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix them all up.
4. Add milk, apples, walnuts and butter/sugar mixture to your dry ingredients.
5. Mix all of your ingredients together again.
6. Spoon your batter into the muffin tin spaces- about 3/4 the way full.
7. Cook for 15-20 minutes.
8. Enjoy the sweet smell of apples through your house! 

Well, these little bundles of joy don't look that appetising, but hey, it's what's on the inside that counts right? These muffins are legit- they aren't too sweet, have a nice, crunchy walnuty taste yet are still moist inside from the apples. T-aaasty.  

Day 17: Coconut Chicken Curry

I really felt like rice tonight for some reason, and what goes better with rice than curry? I've never really made curry before, so I thought i'd make my first one nice and easy. The recipe says that it takes 25minutes to cook, but mine took like 45ish. Next time i'd like to add more ingredients like potato and capsicum because I must admit, it was a little bit plain. 


What you need:
- 315 (1 1/2 cups) of jasmine rice (I used brown rice because it's better for you)
- 1 tbs peanut oil
- 8 chicken thigh cutlets (I used chicken thigh fillets)
- 1 brown onion, cut into wedges
- 1-2tbs red curry paste
- 1 x 400mo coconut milk
- 6 lime leaves
- 1 tbs brown sugar
- 1 tbs fish sauce
- 1 tbs fresh lime juice


How to make it:
1. Cook the rice in a large saucepan of salted, boiling water, following packet directions. 
2. Heat 1/2 oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, tossing often, for 4-5minutes or until browned all over. Remove and set aside.
3. Add the remaining oil, onion and curry paste to the pan and cook, tossing for 2 minutes or until the onion softens slightly.
4. Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and lime leaves. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
5. Stir in the sugar, fish sauce and lime juice. Remove the lime leaves and discard. Divide the steamed rice among serving bowls and top with the curry. Sprinkle with the coriander and serve. 

 My apologies, my photo isn't too good, but I was too hungry to make it look prettier. It tasted great though! The onion wedges were yummy and the chicken was tender and the curry itself wasn't too spicy which is why I liked it I think! 

Day 16: Caramelised Almonds

Today I made my favourite festival/market snack- sweet and crunchy Caramelised nuts. I've always wondered how to make them, I was sure it would be simple, so I thought i'd give it a try. It's definitely going to be a new Christmas snack or party table filler. 
All you need is 5 ingredient's; which you most likely have in your cupboard or pantry already. So give it a try, you won't regret it. 
p.s, you can use what ever nuts you want- I just used almonds because that's what was in the cupboard- peanuts and macadamia's go well too.

What you need:
- 2 cups raw almonds (or peanuts or macadamia's)
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon


How to do it: 
1.In a large saucepan mix the nuts with the sugar and water. Cook the ingredients over moderate heat, stirring frequently, you'll be able to see the liquid bubbling away. Cook until the liquid solidifies, and sticks to the nuts. It will take a few minutes. About 8-10 minutes after it’s been boiling, your mixture will look dry and sandy. That’s what it’s suppose to look like, don’t worry.
2.Just when you’re beginning to think you really did something wrong, you’ll start to see a dark, sticky syrup starting to pool. That’s the magic. As you go, tilt the pan, removing it from the heat from time-to-time to regulate the heat and the syrup, so you can coat the nuts with the liquid as it darkens without burning the nuts or the syrup. A few of mine burnt... If the mixture starts to smoke, remove it from the heat and stir, thats how you know they are done.
3. After you take them off the stove, sprinkle your salt and cinnamon on in the pan and stir thoroughly  again.
4. Place the nuts on baking sheet and let them cool completely. Then break up any clumps and transfer to an air-tight container. 

Careful- they're highly addictive! 

Day 15: Homemade Sausage Rolls

The good, old sausage roll. One of Australia's favourite. According to Wikipedia the sausage roll originated from the UK, but I would think otherwise. I'm sure it's an aussie invention, so i'm claiming it! I've always loved this pockets of calories, they were my kiddie party favourite. I decided to try to make my own a couple months ago when I went for a trip to the mountains and ate at a little cafe in Katoomba which was selling home-made sausage rolls. Best thing i've tasted in a long time- beats the frozen kind. 
I found this recipe on Julie Goodwin's website- one of Australia's Masterchef winners and as a typical Aussie mum, I assumed she'd know best.


http://today.ninemsn.com.au/foodandwine/1030764/homemade-sausage-rolls



Ingredients: 
Makes 12 large sausage rolls
- 1kg good quality sausage mince (buy at the butcher)
- 500g mince beef
-  2 brown onions (grated)
- 2 Carrots (grated) 
- 1/2 cup of tomato sauce (or ketchup)
- 1/4 cup of french mustard
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 6 sheets of frozen puff pastry
- 1 egg (beaten)


How to Make it:
1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius. This part is really important so your rolls don't become soggy. 
2. In a bowl, place all ingredients except for the pastry and egg. Using your hands, work the mixture very well until all combined. Feel's pretty nasty, but it gets the job done.
3. Lay the pastry out on a work surface and cut each sheet in half. Work with the pastry still a little bit firm from the freezer as it is easier to handle. I'm pretty sure my pastry was a little bit old, which is why it didn't puff up as much as I thought it would.
4. Start with one pastry sheet on your chopping board/work surface. Cut the sheet in half using a sharp knife. Pick up about a handful of meat and lay it in a line in the middle of your half piece of pastry. Fold the two sides over the sausage mixture and gently press to join. I put a few scratches on the pastry joint to make sure it holds together in the oven
5.Turn the rolls over and brush with the egg combined with 1 tablespoon water on both sides.
6. Put your sausage roll on an oven tray. I put the first batch on a baking tray, but i found that this made the bottom quite soggy with oil, so the last batch I put it on a rack with a tray underneath to catch the oil- they cooked much better this way!
7. Sausage rolls should be in the oven for 20-25minutes and should be golden brown and crunchy. Avoid opening and closing the oven to check them, otherwise it will take even longer!

The turned out super tasty. Loved the curry kind of taste they had to them. Ill be definitely trying these again sometime, they would be great for a party.

Day 14: Grilled Lime and Dill Salmon

So, today I conquered my fear of cooking fish. I'm pretty sure this fish-like-fear came from my childhood...you see my father was a keen fisherman, so the only fish my siblings and I would have tried as kids was the kind that you choke on a bone with every bite- the type with eye balls and scales. It was only about a year ago that I tried my first piece of salmon, and loved it! That's why tonight I decided to cook some tasty salmon and see how it turns out.
I looked around the internet and in a few cook books for a good recipe on how to grill salmon, but non of them tickled my fancy, so I winged it and braved my own creativity- which is why I didn't really measure things out.


Here's what I used:
- 4 fillets of Salmon
- About 3 stems of dill
- 5 tbs butter
- 3 gloves of garlic
- A shake of salt and pepper
- 1/2 lime


Here's what to do: 
1. Don't die from the smell...yes thats the first step. I hate the smell of raw fish.
2. Rinse off the salmon- im not completely sure why, but I read it on a recipe. Then take the skin off, i found the easiest way to do it was to find a really sharp knife and cut the first bit of the skin off, then pull the rest. Cut your salmon up in about 3 pieces per filler
3. Melt your butter in the microwave, but only for a few seconds. Then mince (or finely chop) your garlic, shake in your salt and pepper, rip up your dill and finally squeeze in your lime juice and mix it all up.
4. Use a butter brush to coat all sides of the salmon with your butter mixture.
5. Heat up your grill pan- make sure its nice and hot so your salmon cooks fast. Don't put any butter or oil on the pan, this will make your salmon stick to the pan- put the butter directly on the fish.
6. Place your salmon on the pre-heated pan and allow it to get brown on one side before you turn it over- You will be able to see the inside change colour, thats when to turn it over.

Magic- it seemed too hard to handle when I first started with the cooking process, but after it was all done and I tasted this delicious meal- it made the messiness of it all worth it. It was soft and melted in your mouth. Goes well with rice!

Day 13: Chocolate Tartlets

I was flicking through an old Masterchef magazine today and found a deliciously cute recipe for Butternut Snap Chocolate Tartlets and I couldn't go past it. They looked so good, and you only need 4 ingredients! 
They would be great to make for a party and would be really great for kids to make.

Here's what you need:
Makes 20 
- 250g packet Arnott's Butternut Snap Cookies
- 65g unsalted butter, chopped
- 200g milk or dark chocolate, chopped
- 80ml (1/3 cup) thickened cream


How to make them:
1. Preheat your oven to 180C. Place biscuits over the wholes of a 12 hole (1 1/2 tbs) shallow patty pan. Bake for 2 minutes or until soft, then carefully press the biscuits into the holes to mould into a shell. It might not look like the tart will be deep enough, but it will be! Allow the biscuits to cool, then transfer to a plate. Repeat with the remaining biscuits.
2. To make the filling, place butter, cream and chocolate in a pan over very low heat, stir continuously for about 7 minutes or until smooth. Pour into a bowl. Refrigerate until just cool. 
3. Fill tartlet shells with 1 heaped tsp chocolate filling, then chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
4. Now decorate! This is the fun part... I grated some white chocolate up and sprinkled it on the top, i also used almond flakes and sprinkles. But i think it would be sweet to add strawberries or even glazed cherries to the top. 

I can't even begin to describe how yummy these are! The chocolate mix is perfectly creamy and not overly sweet. Give it a go.

Day 12: Mexican style chicken

Before I start, i'd just like to say that tonight...I cooked the best chicken I have ever made! My boyfriend (who is actually mexican) happens to be an incredible cook, and this is my favourite thing he makes, so I decided to try his recipe for myself. Here it is...


Here's what you need:

-3 Chicken Breasts

-Juice of ½ Lime

-1 handful fresh Coriander

-1 tsp. Salt

-1 tsp. Black Pepper

-1 tsp. Sugar

-1 tsp. Garlic Powder

-1 Tbs. Cumin

-1 Tbs. Paprika


Here's how to do make it:

1. Butterfly the chicken breasts then separate. The best way to do this is to place one hand on the top of the chicken and cut through the middle of the chicken. They should be thin for quick, high heat grilling

2. 

Measure out all of your spices and coarsely chop the fresh coriander/cilantro.
3. Place the chicken in a bowl and add all your ingredients to season the chicken (except your lime juice)
4. Coat every part of the chicken until the spices become like a paste, and then squeeze in the half limejuice and mix around. You can let the chicken marinade for an hour or more, but it tastes just as good if you cook immediately.
5. After coating chicken with your spices and lime juice, heat up your barbecue on high heat. You can add a bit of vegetable oil to your chicken or grill plates to prevent the chicken from sticking.
6.  Place the chicken on the grill, and leave for about 4 – 6 min on each side, depending on how hot your barbecue gets. 
7.  The chicken should have grill marks and a bit of char on both sides. Once chicken is done cooking, remove it from the barbecue and slice it up however you like.


You can really eat this chicken with anything, or on its own because it's that good! I heated up some corn tortillas and made some guacamole, beans and rice would go well too...but i'll have to try that recipe another time. Yum yum!