Mango & Coconut Cheesecake Slice

It has finally come...
Mango season!
I snapped up a few on special when food shopping, and after discovering that both of my kids refused to eat any of this delicious fruit, I was left with more mango than I could eat!
So what to do?
Turn it into a delicious dessert, of course!
A few years ago I made a mango cheesecake, which was happily devoured in record time by our visitors.
The creative cogs began turning and a popular combination sprung to mind...
Mango and coconut!
I remembered seeing a bag of coconut biscuits in the supermarket and knew they would make the perfect crust.
So I grabbed the necessary ingredients for a super quick and easy treat:
Biscuits
Cream cheese, one packet
Mango jelly packet

Then I raided my pantry and fridge for the last few essentials:
Butter
Dessicated coconut
Over ripe mango
Caster sugar

I softened the cream cheese by slowly heating in the microwave, and threw a couple of handfuls of coconut biscuits in my mini food processor and whizzed until fine and crumbly.

I melted a chunk of butter and slowly added it, bit by bit, into the biscuit crumbs and whizzed until it started to come together. I wanted a bit more coconut flavour so I added the dessicated coconut to the mix.

BUT silly me added too much butter (sometimes there is such a thing as too much butter!) and my base ended up quite solid. When mixing the base, the crumbs should still be fairly loose, but press together slightly with the back of a spoon.

I pressed the crumb mix into my little loaf tin (I don't have all of my regular kitchen bits and pieces, so this was the best option for me). I popped it into the fridge and turned the kettle on...

Not for a much-needed cuppa, but for the next step...

I emptied the jelly mix packet into a small bowl and added one cup of boiling water. I stirred until dissolved.

Then I scraped al the juicy flesh from my mango and pureed it in my freshly washed mini food processor.
I grabbed out my super soft cream cheese and stirred until it was smooth.

I divided the jelly mix between the cream cheese and the mango. I wanted the top layer to set, but not to hard, and the cream cheese already sets quite firm, so it doesn't need too much jelly to set it any further. The mango had about 2/3 and the cream cheese, the remaining.

I added a little bit of caster sugar to the cream cheese and jelly mixture and blitzed with my stick blender so it was smooth and completely lump free.

When my base was solid (doesn't take too long, maybe 15 minutes), I poured the cream cheese mixture over the top.
When I got to this stage I saved some mixture to make mini crustless bowls of cheesecake for my little ones.

I popped it back into the fridge to set and waited...

When it was firm, I slowly poured the mango mixture over the top and put it back in the fridge to finish setting completely.

And voila!

A little someone was more than happy to let me take photos of her eating it....

It's a tough life being taste tester!

Experimental Dinner

I am always experimenting with food.

Recipes I see as inspiration, they get my creative juices flowing and my mind wanders…

“Add this, take away that, fry those up first, substitute this for something else…”

I very rarely follow a recipe to the letter.

After making up a delicious Tuna & Vegetable Casserole, I was left with a small bowl of cooked veges and tuna sitting in my fridge. I didn’t want a repeat dinner, so I got to work.

I had some cooked brown rice sitting in the fridge and a can of Cream of Celery soup in my pantry…

This could work!

I mixed the veges and tuna with the soup (condensed), added a dash of milk and poured over some rice in a baking dish. Sprinkle on some corn flakes (which I have discovered make a delicious crumb) and bake.

Yum.

Tasty and fast.

Dinner is served!

Another Easy Weekday Dinner, Tomato & Tuna Pasta.

I cannot count how many times I have seen an exhausted mother desperately cry out "What can I cook for dinner tonight?"
I am always on the lookout for new recipes.
Fast and easy, with simple ingredients are a week night winner.
I have a few favourites up my sleeve that I whip out when the occasion arises.
Though I do like to be organized, and have dinner prepared early, sometimes there is just no time.

One of the speedy dinners is my home made pizza, that I wrote about the other day.
Another is this, my super fast (and super cheap) tomato & tuna pasta...

I first made this meal many years ago, out of sheer desperation.
The fridge was empty.
The pantry was close to bare.
I had some pasta, a tin of tuna, tinned tomatoes and an onion.

So I did what I could.
I fried up the onion, threw in the tuna (with brine) and tinned tomatoes, seasoned it and tossed through the fresh, hot pasta.
It was delicious!
Simple flavours that were a perfect match.

Of course now I might sprinkle with a bit of parmesan cheese and parsley, but I still prefer the simple flavours alone.

Have you ever had to whip something up with empty cupboards?

I Finally Made A Pie! {RECIPE}

I have a little list in my head of things I want to try.
Baking, crafting, gardening...
A mixture of odd bits and pieces!

One thing I have wanted to try for a long time was to bake a pie.
All from scratch, crust and top.
Another thing I have been desperate to attempt; lattice pastry.

Last night I did both in one super scrumptious meal.
Creamy Vegetable Pie.

I started with the pastry.
Later realizing that I had accidentally added 50g too much butter!
(But it was a good thing in the end)
I weaved my lattice pie top as I juggled phone calls, hungry kids and a puppy dog that wanted to sleep under my feet.

(Please forgive the instagram photos, I had my hands a bit too full to take photos with my big camera)

I was pretty happy with how it looked, not perfect and neat, but let's just call it rustic.
I looked at the recipe and shook my head.
No, I am going to skip that part, change it to this and save myself the extra dirty dishes, thank you!

Basically the recipe said to fry the onions and then steam the remaining vegetables separately.
Instead I fried the onions and added everything else to the same pot and popped a lid on, let it cook on a medium-low heat until it was nice and soft and the pumpkin had mashed into a creamy addition to the white sauce I was making.
I have some fussy quirks.
One is with pumpkin.
I don't like eating it unless it is pureed and in a recipe.
I will happily devour pumpkin soup, but not chunks of baked pumpkin alone.
No thanks!

Anyway, I roughly followed the recipe, though noticed that it never called for seasoning.
A must!!

After all my pie-making efforts I was finally rewarded with this...

Creamy, sweet pumpkin and vegetable filling and a light, flaky crust that melted in your mouth.
Oh dear.
It was perfect.
I was so proud of myself.
This is my first pie.
And it was a success!
Even my meat-eating husband loved it!

So now I can tick these off my list, what next?
I love to challenge myself!

Creamy Vegetable Pie

Ingredients:
175g butter, chilled and chopped into cubes
2 cups plain flour
1/4 cup iced water

1 tablespoon oil
1 Medium onion, finely chopped
1 head broccoli, chopped into small florets
2 carrots, chopped
1/4 butternut pumpkin, diced

50g butter
1/4 cup plain flour
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup grated cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten, for glazing

Method:

Place flour into a food processor and pulse for 5 seconds. Add cubed butter and process until mixture is fine and crumbly. Add iced water while processing, slowly. Keep processing until it comes together.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Roll out one half and line your greased pie dish. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

 Roll out the remaining pastry to the same size and cut into strips. Lay half of the strips, spaced apart, onto a baking tray covered in cling wrap. Weave other strips to form a lattice pattern. Refrigerate until firm.
Preheat the oven to 180*C

Blind bake your pastry shell for 20 minutes.
(You can weigh the pastry down with baking paper and beans, lentils or rice. I like to leave it and just pop the bubbles with a small knife)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Fry the onion until soft, then add the other vegetables. Turn the heat down to medium-low and pop a lid on. Keep stirring as it slowly cooks and gently mash the pumpkin as you stir.
Heat the 50g of butter in a small saucepan. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the milk gradually, stirring until smooth between each addition. Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Boil for 1 minute then remove from heat.

Add the egg yolks and cheese and stir until smooth.
Pour sauce over the vegetables and stir to combine.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
(I added some chopped parsley here for extra flavour)

Pour the mixture into the pastry case and brush the edges with the beaten egg.
Gently place the lattice on top and trim to fit. Brush with egg.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until crispy and golden.

Crispy Hot Chocolate Toasted Sandwich

As the title suggests, this is not a healthy food post.
Not even close.
Look away if you are trying to avoid sweet things...

Still here?
Good.
:)

I had a silly little craving for nutella pizza.
(Maybe it was because I made pizzas the other night?)
If you haven't had one, then it is a must!
Delicious warm chocolate hazelnut spread on a baked pizza base.
Mmm, delicious.

I had no pizza bases, and no desire to spend time to make any pizza dough.
What can I say?
I like quick and easy!

So I pulled out a few ingredients I had lying around...

Ok, so it's not Nutella, but it's the cheaper alternative...

She doesn't seem to mind!
Neither do I, it still tastes delicious.

So here we have it...
The crispy hot chocolate toasted sandwich...

Complete with warm, gooey chocolate oozing out of the sides.
Such a decadent treat.

Do you have a secret decadent treat?

Quick & Easy Pizza Dinner

Say hello to Sunday evening.
I'm exhausted.
Daylight savings has kicked in and ruined the three-nights in a row record of both of my children sleeping through the night.
I am so tired from lack of sleep I sometimes wonder if those glorious nights of uninterrupted sleep ever happened?

Dinner time was fast approaching.
The kitchen was quiet, but the kids were not.
Daddy had run up to the shops to replace a doggy chewed dummy so I was left alone with two hungry children at that time of the day.
Every parent knows that time of the day.
When the kids turn into monsters, their volume increases and they look so hungry they just might eat you alive.
When you are in a mad rush to get dinner ready with them running around, screaming in excitement as they hype up a little fluffy puppy who rewards them with high-pitched yips.
When you open the fridge and see a chilled bottle of wine and don't even realize you are licking your lips, promising yourself a glass as soon as the mayhem is over.

I immediately went to my super fast and easy dinner...
Pizzas!
No making fresh dough this time.
I want fast & easy!

So I opened a few cans and chopped a few things up...

Then started with one for the kids...

Sauce, pineapple, olives, ham & cheese.

Popped in the oven for 15 minutes and started on a pizza for me...

I still had time to whip up a quick little salad...

Then when the kitchen had filled with the scent of fresh pizza, the timer went off and out it came...

Oh yeah, it looked good!
Served up with some salad...

And finally, those hungry little monsters were satisfied!

Do you have a favourite last minute meal?
How do you keep your hungry little monsters happy?

Baking Fail. Yes, They Do Happen!

See this...

This is a lamington.
The cake is light and fluffy.
Not like this...

I didn't bother with the chocolate icing and coconut.
It was a solid, sweet, eggy lump of cake.
Horrible!

It started out fine.
At least I thought so!
I did a lot of whisking...

But it was a disaster.
So what do I do?

Go back to an old classic!
Butter biscuits.
With sprinkles!

I left them a little undercooked so they were a bit gooey inside...
Yum!

Cheesy Stuffed Pasta Shells

I stumbled across these giant pasta shells at the supermarket the other week and I just had to buy a packet.
Many years ago, a friend's mother had made us the most delicious dinner using these shells stuffed with cheese and spinach and I have wanted to try cooking it myself ever since.

I had no recipe, but gathered a few ingredients that were lying around...

I crumbled the ricotta...

Mixed in the beaten eggs...

Boiled up the pasta until it was almost cooked through...

Mixed in the defrosted pumpkin puree and spinach...

Added some fresh parsley and seasoned it with salt & pepper...

Then I spread a layer of pasta sauce over the bottom of my baking dish...

I found a huge clove of garlic...

...And I grated it finely over the sauce...

I set up a stuffing station...

I stuffed the shells with the cheese mixture...

Then placed them on top of the pasta sauce...

Covered with grated cheese...

Baked until golden...

Delicious, quick and so easy!

Deliciously Decadent Carrot Cake

It is no secret that I love cake.
I love to bake cake.
I do like to eat that cake sometimes.
But honestly, the baking is my favourite.

Our fridge has been overloaded with vegetables, and I have been a busy bee.
I pureed up a big batch of sweet potato, carrot and peeled zucchini to give meals a little sneaky boost.
I was cooking so much food that our little family could not keep up!
Our freezer is full to the brim!

I decided to change tack and go in a totally different direction.
Of course that was cake,
I am predictable.
I have not made a carrot cake for years.
The last time I used my kid's cookbook.
The cake was nice, but it was more plain cake that carrot, the flavours were lacking.
It was obviously meant for kids, not the cake connoisseur.

I flicked through my many cookbooks, skipped past recipes with pineapple and sultanas...
Then I found this one...

I had all the ingredients necessary and began mixing...

All mixed up and it did not look very appealing.
But the aroma from the mixed spices was alluring.
I popped in my trusty old springform tin and into the oven for 1hr 15mins.

It came out golden and fragrant.
I could not wait.
I mixed up a zesty cream cheese frosting...

I popped the warm cake out of the tin...

Gave it a quick slice in half and slathered some frosting on, sandwiched it between the two layers and then smothered the whole cake in the remaining frosting...

I should have waited for it to cool...



But of course I didn't!

I scooped out a warm, gooey slice and devoured it....

No, sorry, that is not what happened at all.

I had my cake in front of me on my desk, while I sipped my coffee and checked my emails.

I looked down to see a chunk was missing....

Hmm!

I looked up again, read a few emails, sipped some coffee.

I looked down and went to reach for my spoon so I could try some of this fragrant cake...

It was gone...

And some was almost all of my cake!

I looked to my left, and just out of the corner of my eye was my husband, standing with my spoon, crumbs on the corner of his mouth, and a guilty look on his face.

Oh, I see!

I ate the remaining sliver of cake, sharing with our children who were hovering around like hungry little flies.

The next morning the cake had cooled, and I sliced myself a small piece for morning tea.

It was so moist and dense.

A deliciously decadent carrot cake.

Carrot Cake With Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 1/3 cups (250g) firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (250mL) vegetable oil

3 cups firmly packed, coarsely grated carrot

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (I used pecans instead)

2 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsps mixed spice

Cream cheese frosting:

(I doubled this recipe so I could make a layer cake)

30g butter, softened

80g cream cheese, softened

1 tsp finely grated orange rind

1 1/2 cups icing sugar (may need more to reach right consistency)

1 tbs orange juice

Method:

Preheat oven to 180*C.

Grease a deep 22cm round cake tin, and line the bottom with baking paper.

Beat sugar, eggs and oil in a bowl using an electric mixer, until thick and creamy.

Mix in carrot and nuts, then sifted dry ingredients.

Pour into tin and bake for 1hr15mins.

Stand in tin for 5mins, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, make frosting by beating cheese and butter with a mixer until creamy then add zest and juice and gradually mix in icing sugar until the right consistency is reached.

Cover the cooled cake in frosting and enjoy!

Food, glorious food!