What’s your weakness?

It’s official.  When it comes to garlic bread, I have no chill.

I always cook more than I need and then the only thing that stops me from eating all that I’ve cooked is manners.

But that doesn’t work if there’s no one else there, or the only one who is has already had enough. Then it’s just me and my certain knowledge that my gall-bladder-less body will punish me violently if I continue.

So far, the fear is winning.  But once my stomach has settled, I make no promises about these leftovers.

What about you? Do you have a food kryptonite?

Recipe fails

Today, I sent the girl and the man off to their several labours with Really Ordinary Muffins.

They contain all natural ingredients and many healthful and tasty things, and yet, the combined total is just… ordinary.  Not terrible, but boring.

In itself, this is not a complete disaster.  Not every recipe works.  They’ll be gone soon.  No harm done and my family is way too well house-trained to complain about home-baking that they didn’t make.

The thing that is getting to me is that I HAVE MADE THIS RECIPE BEFORE AND IT WAS BAD THEN TOO.  And I tried it again, with some tweaking, to see if I could fix it.

Why do I do this?

It’s not as though the world is short of recipes.  The internet is awash with recipes for muffins.  In my own recipe stash I have at least five tried and true favourites, at least three of which are at least as healthy as these (and the other two of which are death on a plate).

And yet, I feel the need to tweak a recipe that was boring the first time.  It’s as if I can’t leave any recipe behind.  I am the Marine of muffins.  I must maintain the faith that all recipes are worthy and can be rehabilitated.

But I’m here to say that this one really can be thrown out.  I will waste no more muffin cases on these Really Ordinary Muffins.  I will move on.

But if feels like a failure.

Am I completely insane, or just a little anal?

Enquiring minds want to know…

(Please note the photo above is not of my muffins.  I didn’t have the heart to photograph them.  I found this photo on freedigitalphotos.net and put it here as a mute testimony to what my muffins should have been and yet aren’t.  RIP best intentions.)

Recipes are just a click away…

I promised you recipes (there was a twitter conversation with at least one person) and I am keeping this promise.  But I’m keeping it over at my fellow wordpresser and RWA sister’s blog.

I’m at Cathryn Hein’s Friday Feast today, talking a bit about food and books and giving recipes for quick hasty tasty Evans favourites: dukkha (as it is not made in the Middle East, I’m sure, but still tasting good), Cajun Rare Salmon, Smashed Potatoes and Greek Salad.

Yes, it is a culturally diverse meal ( I prefer ‘diverse’ to ‘messed up’).  I live in Melbourne, a city which has never met a cuisine it didn’t want to absorb and run with.  To be honest, the same could be said of much of Australia.  In recent years (and apart from the Aboriginal Australians, it’s all recent) we are a country of immigrants so we have a lot of different influences in our kitchen pots.  For which I, for one, am very grateful!

Anyway, to encourage you to hop over and have a look at the post, here are some pictures…

AVAGOODWEEKEND!

I must now have a Turducken

I know,  I know, Monday is supposed to be serious and about writing, but I simply cannot concentrate on serious right now.  Not now I know about the TURDUCKEN.

For those of you who were delicately culinarily nurtured, a turducken is a turkey which has been boned, then stuffed with a boned duck and a boned chicken.

No, I am not kidding.

There seems to be some difference of opinion as to whether the chicken is innermost, or the duck, and extra layers of stuffing between and inside the birds seem to be optional but really, the point is that this is one serious poultry fest.

Now, I know that many people probably think this is a little crass.  Sure, it’s kind of excessive and I believe it is very popular in the southern United States, a part of the world legendary for feasting on a scale that would have impressed Henry the 8th.

But there is part of me that LOVES this. 

And now the recipe I promised (and the comp is still open)

On Wednesday I promised you a recipe for chocolate pie and since I would hate to be called a chocolate tease, today I will come good on my promise.  (Update: this should have been up yesterday, I don’t know where my brain is this week!)

I must apologise for my presentation and photography: my food styling is not going to win any prizes any time soon.  But the taste will make up for it.  This pie will silence a table of guests, make you friends and possibly even sway a lover into your arms – and it’s EASY.

Here’s the recipe:

An interview and a recipe (to come)…

I was all fired up to post a recipe today, then I realised that I don’t have a photo of the finished dish to show you – and you really should see it in all its chocolately goodness.

So I am going out to get the ingredients and I will make one tonight and take a picture, just so you can see it… what?  You don’t believe that I am making chocolate pie just for your benefit?  Oh ye of little faith! 😉

But in the meantime, you might want to read my guest interview over at my friend Jenn J McLeod’s blog, in which I mention chocolate pie.  She’s running a great series of interviews with Aussie writers, so check them out.  You might find a new favourite!

I’m off to the shops – come back later and there will be pie!

Imelda

It’s school holidays: that’s my excuse!

Ah, mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa…

For those lacking a classical education or a Catholic background, a rough modern translation would be ‘my bad’.

My posting has been erratic at best this week, and Friday’s post didn’t make it at all!  I’m sorry.  You see it’s school holidays and between later starts, spending time with the girl and trying to get some work done, my blogging has rather fallen through the cracks.  I have three posts half-done, but none got done in time to get up for Friday.

However, it is behind us now and I am hoping for better things next week.  In the meantime, just to prove that I’m telling the truth and I haven’t just been lollygagging about in my pyjamas while you’ve been blogless, here are some brownies, made and packaged for the girl to sell to raise money for a child sponsorship program in the Philippines which is supported by her school.

If you are interested, they are dark chocolate brownies with white choc chips, they’re very good and the recipe is here.

Hope you’re having a good weekend wherever you are and I’ll be back on target next week – promise!

🙂 Imelda

More Sunday Recipe Frolicking…

It’s still school holidays.  So I’m still at the zoo.  Or possibly the Museum.  Or the Art Gallery.  Or playing on the Wii.

So, in lieu of doing anything too strenuous for a Sunday post, I thought I would direct you to my other favourite recipe blog, The Nutrition Guru and the Chef.

These two are a couple and seem quite delightful and have delicious recipes that are also mostly healthy.  Really, there is nothing here not to like!

The picture above is of their tiramisu and if you click on the link you will be taken straight to that recipe.

Or, for all their sweet and savoury goodness, here’s the link to the blog proper:

The Nutrition Guru and the Chef.

Enjoy!

What? You want feeding AGAIN? Another quick dinner

I’m still trying to produce a big word count this month, so dinners still need to be quick.  But lest you think that I ONLY work from the freezer and tinned veges when in a hurry, I thought I’d throw in a mostly fresh example.

This dinner came about because my local supermarket had packs of zucchini, bags of tomatoes and packs of button mushrooms on special.  I had bacon and onions at home and dinner was decided.  This is a very slight variation on a dish invented by my dear mother-in-law, probably in much the same way!

I made a huge pan of this, because I had bacon I wanted to use up, but it’s an almost infinitely variable thing (as so much of my cooking is; not big on precision around here), so I’ll give you approximate ingredient amounts per person and you can adjust as necessary.

Is that the time? Another Quick Winter Dinner

It’s June, which in Australia means winter and in the Romance Writers of Australia means the 50k in 30 days challenge. (For the non-writers, that means trying to write 50, 000 words in a month.)

I’m not doing the full 50k – I’m only(!) trying for 40k.

But this means that other things – minor things, like shopping and cooking – get shoved down the priority list.  At times like these, having some reliable store-cupboard-and-freezer ‘recipes’ (if something this easy can be called a recipe) up your sleeve is very handy.

Here, for your delectation (and speedy hunger satisfaction) is one of our favourites. It is known, in our house, as meatball soup, although it doesn’t contain any actual meatballs.