Chicken Stock- The Student project

Actually I am only turning this into the student project because I made this for under $5.  I am really loving Countdown at the moment.  Seasonal vegies are sooooooo cheap and there are specials and reduced to clear for Africa!  I decided that I was not going to do my normal cook all weekend thing.  I was really tired and we have a freezer full of food!  I also have been getting sick of the lack of stock options in the supermarkets as well.  Its either dry stock, packaged shelf life stock or the refrigerated stocked that has majiclly popped up since the last season of Masterchef...... I have bought one of these refrigerated stocks- I will see how it goes

^^refrigerated stock.  

Now for my stock..... This makes over 1.5 litres of stock

Ingredients

2 chicken carcases

2 carrots chopped chunky

5 sticks of celery chopped chunky

1 onion diced chunky

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon of Thyme

1 teaspoon of basil

1 teaspoon of sage

Lots of water

Method

Fill up the slow cooker with all the veggies and chicken carcases and add water till its 3/4 full, add herbs.  

. Once its cooked, sit for an hour or so and skim the fat off the top. 

 Then add to freezer bags and freeze

The Student Project + The Pasta Project = A creamy tomato pasta sauce.

While I was pigging out on cheese and wine yesterday, I was shown a new cook book someone had bought.  It was a pasta cook book. It was by far one of the best cookbooks I have ever seen. I cant remember who it was by but I will find out for you.  The photos were wonderful and the recipes were achievable and  very inspiring.  It reminded me of a pasta sauce I made a while back but forgot about.  Its delish!  I have made it a few times now and it is just soooooooo easy..... and cheap! and we all know I love to do things on a budget. I would say this would be about roughly $5 per meal.

Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce.

Ingredients

3/4 of a can of tinned tomatoes -Watties crushed & seived are the best

1/2 of a large white onion diced

100 mls of cream (you can use more, I just add more depending on the taste

1 heaped teaspoon on crushed Garlic

olive oil. 

good pinch of grated parmesan

Salt to taste

Method

Add some oil to a frypan on meduim to high heat , add the diced onions and cook till transparent.  Add the garlic and fry off till flavours combine.

Add the tinned tomatoes and cook for a few minuets till all the flavours combine.

Add the cream and stir through.  I would taste the sauce at this point to see if you need to add more cream.

  Once the sauce is right, add the parmesan cheese  and stir through.  Taste again and see if you  need more parmesan or salt and add what is required.

I have served this with packet pasta and also the potato ravioli.

 It was sensational with the potato ravioli I made a while back!

Thats it!

Saturday Afternoon Cheese Fest.

Last week was stressful!


On Friday night hit I convinced myself that I was going to graze on cheese and crackers on Saturday afternoon and drink wine.......

Its official.  Cheese and wine is the answer to all of life's problems. 

And I did exactly that, I grazed on cheese and drank wine. 

Thank you Whitestone, you light up my life! Complete me!

Moeraki Bay blue, Probiotic brie, My Kyeburn aged chedder... The Moeraki Bay blue is really creamy.  The Mt kyeburn is my fave, smoked and aged chedder- the perfect combo.  The Probiotic Brie was really creamy, almost runny in the middle.  Really easy to eat.  This was followed up by hot smoked salmon tails which were divine.  It was just the best way to spend a Saturday.  I am currently making my own chicken stock in the slow cooker so expect a upcoming post about that!

 I didn't pick the wine but it was really nice.

The Student project- Whitestone Mt Kyeburn Mac n Cheese

About a month ago, I did a day trip to Oamaru for work. At that point I had never spent more than 15 minuets in Oamaru and didn't really think that much of the place. After a day in North Otago I realised that Oamaru is awesome!  The Victorian Precinct was really cool.   It reminded me of The Rocks in Sydney but on a smaller scale. I was in Oamaru and the Waitaki region for a wine and food related product so I got to see some really cool places in this region. I defiantly want to go have a long weekend up that way so I can check the region out in more detail.

While I was there I had to visit the Whitestone Cheese Factory.  I am a regular customer at the stall at the farmers market on Saturday so naturally i had to check this place out!  I got to talking with the lady that worked there and told her my favourite cheese in the whole wide world is the Mt Kyeburn aged smoked cheddar.  She told me that she uses that particular cheese in her Mac n Cheese.  I was sold.  

Here is the recipe for my Whitestone Mt Kyeburn Mac n Cheese.  

Ingredients

Macaroni elbows

2/3 of a Whitestone Mt Kyeburn Cheese wedge- crumbled

1/2 a sliced tomato

1 tub of philadelphia cooking cream

3 good pinches of grated parmesan

salt to taste

3/4 of teaspoon of smoked paprika (last minuet addition)

Method

Cook the macaroni according to the packets instructions.

 Once its cooked, drain and return the elbows to the pot you cooked them in. Add the philadelphia cooking cream and stir on a low to medium heat.

 Add the crumbled Whitestone Mt Kyeburn cheese and stir till it has melted.  Add 2 generous pinches of grated parmesan and stir till melted.  Add salt to taste. Make sure the salt cancels out the sour/tangy taste of the Mt Kyeburn cheese.

 Once coked through add some of the smoked paprika.  Leave a little bit as you will need it for garnish.  

Add the macaroni to a baking dish.  Put the last pinch of parmesan on the top. 

Add the tomato slices to the top of the macaroni and the last bit of smoked paprika for garnish. 

 Preheat the oven to 170 degress Celsius and pop the dish in for 15-20 mins.

DONE.

You could make this meal for 2 for around $10 with leftover ingredients for next time.

www.whitestonecheese.co.nz

Ambrosia

You might of noticed my brain has gone into blogging overdrive.  I guess this cold weather makes you want to do next to nothing.  All I have done all day aside from blogging is come up with idea's for recipes to cook or look up recipes online for next weeks inspiration.  I have come up with a few really good recipes!

To be honest, I don't really like desert, baking and sugary stuff is my partners thing.  He consumes enough of it for the both of us.  This is his recipe.  I decided to share it cause it is pretty good.  I have tried it and don't mind it.  He really nails the deserts he likes.

Ingredients

300ml bottle of cream

2x 180gm  packets of marshmallows

1kg of Meadow Fresh Thick and Creamy raspberry 

Method

Whip the cream in a bowl till thick.  

Add the marshmallows and the yoghurt and combine.

Images by me.

Carrot Cake. A whole cake from scratch

As you can see by the amount of posts today, I am feeling inspired.  I am not cooking that much this weekend, I am spending it relaxing and catching up on my blog.  I ended up making a whole carrot cake the other week when we went to my partners parents place because I forgot to bring the cupcake moulds! I was a bit reluctant to do this, because large cakes and I don't mix. It actually turned out amazing.  I have defiantly nailed the carrot cake now!

Just so you know, I used the same recipe as the carrot cupcakes.  No point messing with something that works well...  The cake was sooo moist.  The icing was over 3cm's think in the middle.

Ingredients

 2 cups flour

 2 cups sugar

 3 cups finely shredded carrots 

 1 teaspoon baking powder

 1 teaspoon baking soda

 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 1 cup vegetable oil

 4 large eggs

  

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.  Spray cake tin with cooking oil spray

Combine all dry ingredients, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Stir till all contents have combined evenly

Pour batter into cake tin until it is 2/3’s full.

Bake for 40 minutes poke the cake with a skewer to check if it is cooked.  If it comes out clean they are ready.

Cool for 30 minutes in in the cake tin then move to wire rack to cool completely.

Icing

2 tablespoons of softened butter

1/4  of a cup of cream cheese

1 cup of icing sugar

1 teaspoon of lemon rind

Method

Mix the butter and cream cheese till smooth.  slowly add the icing sugar and mix till smooth.  Mix in the lemon rind.  The add to the top of the cake.