Puff Pastry!

I do so enjoy indulging with puff pastry. I have had this main meal sitting in my recipe box for about a year now. I saw it while I was out and about and copied it down. The poor thing has been collecting dust. Until last week. I ended up spreading it across 2 nights, it was so filling and just lovely to have after a LLLOOOONNNGGG day. So I hope you enjoy these! Will need to photograph these. 

Beef and Vegetable Pastries

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 brown onion diced
•  1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp grounded cumin
• 1 tsp grounded turmeric
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 garlic clove crushed
• 300g beef mince (I use heart smart)
• 400g potato, peeled, diced, washed
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/3 cup coriander leaves chopped
• 3 sheets frozen ready-rolled puff pastry, partially thawed
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method

1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion and salt. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until onion is very soft. Increase heat to high. Add cumin seeds, turmeric, chilli powder and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add mince. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until browned.

2. Place potatoes into a shallow microwavesafe dish. Cover. Microwave on HIGH (100%) power for 5 minutes or until just tender. Drain. Roughly mash potato to mince mixture. Mix well to combine. Transfer filling to a bowl. Set aside to cool completely. Stir in lemon juice and coriander.

3. Preheat oven to 200C. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

4. Cut each sheet of pastry into 4 squares. Spoon filling into centre of each square. Fold each square in half on the diagonal to form a triangle. Use a fork to press pastry edges together to seal. Place onto prepared tray. Brush with egg. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden. Serve with green salad.

Rissoles Tonight!

Well Scott's family have finally made it safely here. What a journey that was, I think Josh said it was like 58 hours. I thought my last set of delays were bad. But, they are here, almost human and excited. To celebrate we are having them over for dinner tonight and I thought I would bust out a recipe I have wanted to try for ages but is way to much of a pain to do for only 2 people. Here it is,

Rissole, Bacon and Tomato Casserole
Prep time 8 hours 15 mins
Serves 6 people
Ingredients
800g beef mince
1 sml brown onion diced
1 egg
3/4 cup of white rice
1/2 cup stale breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
6 bacon rashes
800g of diced tin tomato
3 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

Method
1. Combine mince, onion, egg, rice, breadcrumbs and sauce in a large bowl. Shape into 18 small rissoles (or 9 big ones). Place in a 4.5L slow cooker.
2. Sprinkle bacon over rissoles, pour over combined tomatoes, stock and paste. Cook covered on low for 8 hours.
3. Serve with potato and vegetables/salad.

Roasts, Blankets, Cuddles Oh My!

Well, winter is here. The chilly nights with fluffy socks, fluffy bath robes and fluffy beasts curling up for cuddles has arrived. Scott thinks I am wimp. I may be in QLD and it may only hit 10 degrees but I'm a FNQ Girl and its cold! This is a post of some of the wintry things I enjoy.

Blankets, blankets, blankets. I love snuggling into a blanket with a nice cup of tea and a book. So many blankets to choose from, so little time. I have discovered that the little beasts like my tiger blanket the best. Though I love snuggling into my pink and purple afghan made for me by Scott's mum, Ellen. She even made a matching blanket for my beautiful Delenn. Which of course all the kitties fight over. Kitty blanket wars are cute.

Fluffy pink bath robe! Although, I do have a small problem when wearing it. This problem sometimes knocks over my work or wakes me up or makes me miss a stitch or makes me loose my place in a book or loose the entire book. Lucky he is fluffy too.

Soup, pasta, slow cooked anything and roasted meat. If you need a quick pick me up for soup and you don't have time yourself I would recommend the Woolworths brand. I love their Asian Style Sweet Corn and Chicken Soup. Mmmmm...

Here is my favourite quick tasty roast dinner. I do roast differently each time, it depends on how over the day I am, if I want to make everything from scratch, how many cats am I fending off and really how coordinated I am that day. It is a mixture of random recipes and whatever worked for me. I hope you enjoy as much as I do because this is what I did tonight and it was yummy.

Lisa's Random Roast Beef with Mash Potato, Peas Roast Sweet Potato and Corn

Rubbing Oil (I do this the night before)
1 cup of olive oil
2 tblsp of crushed garlic
Pepper to taste.

Place all ingredients in  bowl and leave to infuse over night.

Ingredients
1kg of Blade Roast
Rubbing Oil
Olive oil spray
5 large potatoes (Peeled and cut into eighths)
2 large cobs of corn
1 sweet potato cubed into 2cm pieces
1 cup of peas (I only eat them in this house)
1/2 cup Milk (to taste for mash potatoes)
2 tbsp Butter (to taste for mash potatoes)
Gravy

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius
2. Rub over oil, garlic and pepper mixture. Place in oven for 65 mins (I like mine medium so for every 450g I cook for 25 mins)
4. With 25 mins left boil large pot of water and add potatoes for mash potatoes.
3. With 20 mins to go place sweet potato on a tray and spray with oil, play in oven to roast.
4. 15 mins left boil water in a medium sauce pan, add corn and peas and cook for 8 mins.
5. Take out meat leave to sit for 10 mins.
7. Take off potatoes add milk and butter, mash.
 8. Place vegetables out onto plate and slice beef thinly.
9. Serve with gravy, I usually make it from what is left over in the pan (or if not enough time use a packet mix).

Happy winter all!!!

Steak for dinner here

Mmmmm had a yummy dinner before football tonight. Sad to see the Melbourne Storm lose but the Warriors from Auckland deserved it. Dinner was simple steak but added a bit to it by adding this glaze. Give it a go when you get a chance. Probably really good for a barbecue. Plus, we have the herbs growing again in our garden so any excuse to use them.

Steak with Honey, Thyme and Mustard Glaze
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
4 lean New York Style Beef Steaks (i also use rump)
2 tblsps honey
1/3 cup of lemon juice
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tblsp seeded mustard
1 clove garlic, crushed

Method
Heat oil in pan, add steaks, cook until done as desired; remove from pan. Add remaining ingredients to pan, simmer uncovered until mixture thickens slightly.
2. Serve glaze over steak.

Tonight because it is so warm I served with a tossed garden salad but I think it would be great with either mashed potatoes and green beans or roast vegetables.