mosaic road

Bananarama

Bananas have been selling at extraordinarily exorbitant prices for months now - up around $13.oo a kilo. Recently they dropped to around $10 and are set to become cheaper as the crops reflourish after horrendous storm damage months ago wiped out so many plantations. Today I bagged a bargain ! For a mere $3.00 I got a bag of 2 dozen bananas - admittedly they are a bit marked on their skin but it is what is indside that counts. Half I will throw in the freezer in their skins for later use and the others will be whipped into muffins and cake over the weekend.

Clear Out the Fridge Pasta Sauce

Anthing in the fridge can go into this. Tonight I even had 2 different types of leftover pasta - some gluten free noodles and some ravioli. Black olives, chopped ham, 1/2 an avocado, a few sliced mozzarello balls and the end of a jar of pasta sauce plus a couple of tomatoes and dinner was born and on the table in a nanominute. Now the fridge is devoid of all those little glad wrap covered bowls of bits. It's a clean slate, now ready to start collecting leftovers all over again.

Another Successful Crumble

This dessert was gorgeous with peaches and blueberries sandwiched between a bottom layer of crumble and more sprinkled over the top. What thrilled me most though was a guest in our house, who is  chef, loved it, adored it in fact !

Feeding the Cookie Monsters

A batch of these can be whipped up in an instant, healthy too. They are a cornflake cookie but I used sultana bran with extra raisins. Any cereal and dried fruit combo could be used successfully. It's really a mix'n match cookie made in one bowl. The recipe called for chocolate drizzled over the top which would have been wonderful and right up my alley but time as per usual was against me.

Turkish Takeaway

We have take away food infrequently and our usual choice is Asia or Indian. On Saturday after a busy day we decided to try some Turkish food from a local cafe called Nicosia. There certainly was something for everyone - pita, dips, boureka, mixed meats, salad, rice and vegies. The pink sparkling wine was  from Yering Station, here in Victoria and a long way from Turkey but it is a drink that goes with anything at any time on any day.

 

Express Chocolate Cake

Express it was, one bowl, no eggs, vanished fast !!

A Gorgeous Breakfast

 
I took a surprise breakfast in bed to S this morning. She was feeling unwell with a virus and needed a lie in after a hectic week. The Cocopop always is on hand to befriend anyone having a sleep in  and always shows a keen interest in their breakfast tray. I quickly whipped up a bowl of fruit, yoghurt and cereal. Sounds like an average type of breakfast I know but it had a bit of a gourmet twist. Blueberries from the freezer and peaches from a tin were adorned with yoghurt and cream. A big sprinkle of brown sugar was atop this and around the edges I  lay a trail of Carmen's gluten free toasted muesli . It was very pretty and helped the patient face the day.

                    

I Love Versatility

And a large batch of pumpkin base soup kept in the freezer equals just this. Last night, in the door from work  just on 6.30 meant fast food was needed. This is where make ahead freezer meals come into their own. This pumkin soup base recipe can be made in a large amount and frozen in family friendly serves. I added Thai flavours last night but anything can be added like beans or rice or pasta or pesto or on and on I could go !!

Spring Colour

Today has been warm with gusty awful winds. Thick pollens fill the air with every gust. True hay fever weather causing sniffles, sneezes and streaming eyes. Any fragile flowers would have been blown to pieces today, their petals being strewn everywhere. My garden has very little in it but the flowers I do have are these wonderful and weather sturdy orange "things", maybe they are a type of lily - who knows . They are very pretty and I love them.

Carrot Cake with Raisins

 

We are all going to be able to see really well in the dark after eating this cake. It was perfect, quite an unusual  achievement for me. No wet middle !! Golden in colour and full of flavour, as besides the carrots, I added a couple of big dollops of mandarin marmalade. I will definitely do this again as the cake is moist and has a delicate citrus flavour throughout.