Pizza al la James

Hey guys.  Tonight i made pizza's for the troops.  All up it cost me around $15 - $16 for 2 gourmet pizza's with -

• mission pizza base x2
• Romano cheese coated Salami
• mild Spanish coated Salami
• pizza sauce
• mixed herbs
• 1 tub of bocconcini
• mushrooms
• pineapple pieces
• extra grated mozzarella
• 1 onion
• 6 cherry tomatoes
• olives
• 1 ham steak sliced thinly

The bases were rectangular and fitted everything nicely piled up.  240deg c oven for 20 mins.  Should have made more lol.  Now at a pizza shop you would pay in excess of $15 each for these so half the cost and you know whats on it.

Chocolate Cranberry Brownies

Made these last night for the kids lunch today and for a bit of something something with my coffee lol.  Really easy to make and taste fantastic.

Ingredients

• 175g butter, cubed
• 200g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1 1/4 cups plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup brown sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Lightly grease and line a square 20cm (base measurement) cake pan with non-stick baking paper.
   
2. Place butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water). Stir occasionally until the chocolate mixture melts and is smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.
   
3. Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa into a large bowl. Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture. Add eggs, cranberries and brown sugar, stirring with a large spoon until combined. Pour the mixture into the lined cake pan. Cook for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out slightly sticky. Set aside in the pan for 10 minutes to cool then transfer to a wire rack. Slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

Who can say this sentence?

A Chihuahua, a Doberman and a Bulldog are in a bar having adrink when a great-looking female Collie comes up to them and says, "Whoever can say liver and cheese in a sentence can have me."

So the Doberman says, "I love liver and cheese." The Collie replies, "That's not good enough."

The Bulldog says, "I hate liver and cheese." She says, "That's not creative enough."

Finally, the Chihuahua says, "Liver alone . . . cheese mine."

An elephant and turtle

An elephant was drinking out of a river one day, when he spotted a turtle asleep on a log. So, he ambled on over and kicked it clear across the river.

"What did you do that for?" Asked a passing giraffe.

"Because I recognized it as the same turtle that took a nip out of my trunk 53 years ago."

"Wow, what a memory" commented the giraffe.

"Yes," said the elephant, "turtle recall".

Bacon and Thyme Popovers

Hi everyone.  These are one of the kids favourites for snacks and in their lunch box's at school.  Quick and easy to make so enjoy!!!

INGREDIENTS

• 50g Butter, plus extra for greasing
• 6 Rashers of bacon
• 2 spring onions, white and green sliced finely
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 150g or 1 1\2 cups of plain flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp powdered beef stock
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 300ml milk
• 2 tsp dried thyme

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 200 deg C or 400 F.  Lightly grease 2 x 12 cupcake or 1 x 12 muffin tins.  Fry the bacon, spring onions, salt, pepper and garlic until cooked through and golden brown.  Set aside.
2. Sift the flour, salt and beef stock powder into a bowl.  Make a well in the centre and add the eggs.  Put the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until it is melted.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter into the flour mixture.  Beat with a whisk until combined, gradually stiring in the milk to form a smooth batter.  Add the dried thyme  to the batter.
4. Laddle the batter into the greased muffin holes until they are about 2/3 full.  Sprinkle the bacon mix over the popover batter.
5. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown and puffy.  Turn out onto a wire rack. 
6. Either serve warm or cold in lunch box or a snack.

Budget Meat Shopping

When it comes to shopping for your meats at the supermarket, always check out if there is any "reduced to clear" meats in the pre packed section. This meat normally has a couple of days left on the best before date so is still great to eat, and is normally reduced by anywhere from 30-60% off the original price. Either use it straight away or freeze it for use later on.

You would be surprised how much money you can save by doing this every time you shop and what products do get marked down .  It also applies to bread and cold cut meats as well. 

Easy peel Garlic

To avoid having to cut the ends off the garlic cloves, and then peel them leaving your hands stinking, place the cloves into the microwave for 15 to 20 seconds. When you take them out you should be able to just gently squeeze the tips of the garlic and it pops out of it skin. Easy peezy. Then crush or chop to your liking.

Just Right and Cranberry Cookies

 Ok guys these are my Just Right and Cranberry Cookies I made today for the family to chomp on.  Hard to keep enough for photo's in this house with all of the kids and Sarah wanting to eat them all.  Hope you enjoy!!!

Preparation Time

15 minutes

Cooking Time

25 minutes

Makes

Approx 40

Ingredients

• 225g (1 1/2 cups) Just Right Cereal or any kind of Muesli based Cereal
• 150g (1 cup) plain flour
• 85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
• 75g (1/2 cup) Cranberries or Craisins
• 100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
• 55g (1/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger or allspice
• 125g butter, chopped
• 60ml (1/4 cup) golden syrup
• 1 tbs water
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
   
2. Combine the Cereal, flour, coconut, cranberries, caster and brown sugar, and spice in a large bowl.
   
3. Combine the butter, golden syrup and water in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, until butter melts and mixture is well combined. Remove from heat. Add bicarbonate of soda and stir until just combined. Add to dry mixture and stir until combined.
   
4. Use your hands to roll tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls and place on prepared trays, allowing room for spreading. Use your fingers to flatten slightly. Bake in preheated oven, swapping trays halfway through cooking, for 20 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Remove from oven and set aside for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

All about me

Hi everyone, I'm James.  The reason i am putting together this blog is because i love food, I've always loved food savory or sweet, hot or cold, all the flavours of the rainbow.  I am a Flavour Addict.  My mum started me on my cooking journey when i was 6 years old, making basic cakes and helping with dinner.  From there i have always cooked for myself, family and friends.  I also worked as a bakers offsider for a couple of years which got me interested in breads and pastries.  At the age of 15 i made my first ever batch of Croissants.  They were gorgeous and buttery and everyone wanted me to make more, but the time it took doing all of that rolling and folding and adding more and more butter blaaaahhhh not a chance lol.  Back then i didn't have any fancy machines to help with those tasks but now its different ha ha ha. 

I have been married to my beautiful wife Sarah for 13 years now and have 5 amazing children to keep us on our toes.  We have Josh our eldest at 13, Nicola is 11, Matthew 9, Samuel 6 and Jessica 3. You can imagine how many meals we have had to prepare over the years having a tribe of kids with hungry bellies and different tastes to satisfy, not easy especially on a tight budget.  Things have always been tight in our house when it comes to money due to myself suffering from depression and anxiety from things that happened in my childhood, and having been diagnosed with chronic fatigue a few years ago.  I would work my fingers to the bone for months and months then come crashing down with flu like symptoms.  Ive been off work now for the past 3 years trying to get my health back into order and  at the start of this year i was starting to feel better.  I started doing my Certificate 3 in aged care and was loving it, then bam i had a motorcycle accident putting me into hospital for a few weeks. 

Some idiot was talking on his mobile phone and looked up to see a pedestrian walking across the road, so he jammed on his brakes and whack i took out his left hand corner of his 4WD with my right leg.  I ended up with a dislocated hip, fractured hip socket and 20 stitches across my right knee and down my shin.  Needless to say my days of lifting heavy object, walking long distances and standing in one place for extended amounts of time are over.  So..................while i am slowly but surely again getting my health and well being back on track here i am.  Blogging and sharing my thoughts, recipe's of ours and of others, tips and techniques of different kinds and even a bit of laughter to help you through the day. 

As i mentioned we do live on a strict budget so i will be sharing some quick and inexpensive recipe's with you that are still packed with flavour and look terrific as well as some not so quick but still very affordable ones for when you want a treat or are entertaining.  I also have lots of little tips and tricks ill share about keeping the grocery bills down while still being able to eat like kings and queens.   I also have type 2 Diabetes so we have been learning to cook different meals to keep the sugars down as well as some gluten free and wheat free meals for Sarah, so expect some of these recipe's too.  Finally, I'd just like to say, i hope everyone enjoys my page and the things i post and i look forward to reading some of yours too.  Cheers and happy eating!!!