Friday Night = Pizza Night

We always whip up some yummy pizzas on Friday nights. It is much quicker than driving to town and picking them up or having them home delivered. Last time we had pizzas home delivered we were SO disappointed with them because we are TOTALLY spoiled after having home made ones for so long now.

The basic dough recipe is:

1 cup plain flour
1 cup of self raising flour
pinch of salt
rounded teaspoon of yeast
teaspoon of honey
1 cup of lukewarm water.

Because we try and make most of our meals low GI, I double this recipe and use a mix of wholemeal flours - so that's 1 cup of wholemeal plain flour, 1 cup of white plain flour then the same with the self raising flour.

There's nothing fancy to the method. I mix all the dry ingredients together before pouring in the water and roughly combining it with the other ingredients. Then I just let it sit for a while - sometimes ten minutes sometimes an hour - just depends on how side tracked I get! lol You can see when the yeast has done it's job because it roughly doubles in size.

I then plonk it onto a floured surface and tumble it around a little - I won't say kneed because there is not really a lot of effort involved. I cut it into three and roll them out to the size of the round pizza trays. I use olive oil on the trays and then hammer the bases with a fork to allow the heat to penetrate through when cooking.

Depending on how thick you like your pizzas you could make more or less. I make one thick pan style with just olive oil, herbs and tomato paste for son number one. Son number two and I share a thick base and then I make Hubbie's a thinner one.

Next we start chopping up the 'whatever' to go on the top. Last night I had king prawns, coriander, basil, chicken, pineapple and onion. Let me say ...... yum yum yum !!! ( Mine is the left hand side of the pizza on the right)

The pizza on the left is Hubbie's. He is a chili freak and he has various versions of homegrown chili, capsicum, olives, pineapple, onion, salami etc etc. His chili is so potent he has to have a separate chopping board, knife and other tools. I also make him put his on the bottom shelf of the oven so there is no contamination dropping onto my pizza!!

They take about 12 minutes to cook in a very hot oven.

We look forward to Friday nights. Some nice music, a glass of wine and the feeling of accomplishment when you sit down to these little beauties knowing that everyone has given a helping hand.

The Jam Stick

Can you see the 'jam stick' in this picture ? It has such a history.

My grandmother gave it to me a couple of years ago. The story is that when she was making jam on the farm one day a visitor noticed that the spoon she used was too short and she often burnt her hand.

The kind visitor went down the paddock got a piece of wood and crafted a new, longer handled jam stirrer and gave it to her. She used it for many many years.

Here I am, some sixty years later, using it again - bringing it back to life. I use it as a spatula in my mix master. I love the long handle.

I am not sure what type of wood it is, it is so weathered now - but still quite strong.

Not long ago, hubbie and I were fooling around in the kitchen comparing our favourite cooking items. His consists of an old frypan with no handle that he uses to make a perfect omelette ( so perfect in fact that he brings the pan, held in a tea towel, into my office to show me just how clever he is!), and an old scraper that he says he is going to pot rivet back together because 'they just don't make them like this anymore'.

Mine consists of the mix master ( an anniversary present about three years ago), an old spoon and the jam stick. You can read about the spoon here

All of our favourite cooking utensils were really old! I guess Hubbie is right ... they just don't make them like they used to!

You know what is really sad though....... when we were studying the jam stick the other day, Hubbie smelt it and said......

........ 'it smells like Nanna's kitchen '

. ...... and I smelt it ...............

.....and it does .............

Easy Potato Bake

This would have to be the easiest dish to put together and compliment any meal. Tonight I have made a smaller serving as it is just the four of us for dinner. Other times I would use a large baking dish if we are having a bbq or have guests for dinner.

I use as many potatoes as I think will fill the bowl. I then add in a few sweet potato slices for some colour and a different flavour.

I mix together some milk, crushed garlic, a chicken stock cube and some Italian herbs until I have enough liquid ( I add water if necessary) to splash some around each layer as I am putting it all together.

I sprinkle the top with some mozzarella and a handful of Italian herbs and put it into the oven on 180 c for about 45 minutes. I poke it with a knife to make sure it is fully cooked.

I often cover it with foil and sit it aside until other dishes are ready, it seems to keep the warmth really well.

Oh, and I am really living this retro orange glass dish. I use it for everything - especially self saucing puddings! .............................yummo

Health + Yum = Chocolate Slice { ? }

You see lots of recipes that claim to be healthy and yummy. In my experience those two adjectives don't often go together. But...... I have found a slice that actually provides a chocolate fix and yet has only healthy ingredients..... and there is no cooking involved.

You will need:

Half a cup of sesame seeds

Half a cup of almonds ( soaked in water overnight and then drained)

Third of a cup of coconut

Third of a cup of cocoa powder

8 dried figs

Half a cup of chopped dates

Two drops of peppermint essence

Two tablespoons of water.

Throw everything in a food processor and churn/ pulse until the mixture is crumbly. You may need to fiddle with the amount of water or sesame seeds if it is too dry or too wet. Test by pressing some mixture together.

Press the slice into a small pan ( 20cm x 10cm) and refrigerate until firm.

The taste is nutty, yet chocolatey and most importantly it is very satisfying with a cup of tea!

We thought it actually tasted better on the second day in the fridge... not sure about the third day {lol}

Try it and see what you think.....