Coconut French Toast

This Coconut French Toast is like French toast on steroids! The outside is nice and crisp and the coconut gives it an unexpected flavour. The melted chocolate gives an extra little kick as well. The thick cut bread means that it stays nice and soft on the inside. Delicious for breakfast, morning or afternoon tea! Sort of like donuts with a difference! I will definitely be making this one again!

Bacon and Lentil Soup

We went out for lunch and then a movie yesterday (without kids!), so by the time we got home it was time to make a start on dinner. I had bought a nice big loaf of wide tin bread the day before, so I decided to make the bacon and lentil soup. It was so easy and fast to make - hardly any chopping, and only 20 minutes to simmer, so we still managed to get dinner on at normal time. The lentils in the soup make it very filling and substantial enough for dinner.

Baked Passionfruit Custards

Tonight for dinner we had two Donna Hay dishes, the Spice Roasted Ribs that we had last week for our main and the Baked Passionfruit Custards for dessert. I wanted to make something this afternoon that didn't have very many ingredients and was quick to bake. It was really easy to do, and the passionfruit made it that little bit tart, cutting down on the richness of the cream.

Baked Whole Lemon Pudding

I have been eying off the Baked Whole Lemon Pudding in the cookbook for a week or so now, not sure whether to give it a go yet, mainly because I don't have a food processor. The closest I have to a processor is a little version of one that came with my stick mixer. It definitely doesn't do as good a job as a food processor. So I did as best I could and ended up having to sieve the lemon mixture to get the remaining lumps out. Whether or not it tastes exactly the same as Donna Hay's version, I don't know. But whatever happened, it tasted fantastic! I will be doing this dessert again that's for sure!

Oh and I have decided it might be worthwhile investing in a food processor!

Greek Inspired Lamb Meatballs

Whenever we have any kind of flatbread in our house, we say that we are having "circles" for dinner. This came about because when josh was first learning his shapes, he decided to call them circles (as they rightly are!) and ever since that day the name has stuck. So tonight, he was quite excited to see we were having circles! These were a bit different to the ones we normally have - usually we have mexican tortillas - fajitas or soft tacos. The Greek inspired lamb meatballs had heaps of flavour, and the feta cheese melted nicely for a little something extra! We will definitely be doing this one again.

Seared Beef with Garlic White Beans

This is not the first time I have cooked Seared Beef with Garlic White Beans. Its great to do when you don't have much time for peeling and boiling potatoes, or even if you have run out of potatoes! White beans (also known as cannelini beans) can be kept in the cupboard for such times, ready to make a tasty meal.

Cheat's Chocolate Eclairs

The Cheat's Chocolate Eclairs have to be the cutest little things I have made! They are pretty easy to do which is a bonus. No complicated choux pastry to be made, which I have never tried and am sure if I did it would be a complete disaster! These little eclairs look great, and would be a fantastic little dessert to be made ahead of time for a dinner party, afternoon tea, morning tea...pretty much anything where something sweet is required!

Quince Lamb with Blue Cheese Polenta

This was another first time ingredient for me today! I have never cooked with polenta before...actually I don't think I have even tasted it before. So I thought I would give it a go. I did have a guess when I bought it though - I do my grocery shopping online, and because the shop I use only had one listing for polenta, I wasn't sure if it was the instant kind. unfortunately for me, it wasn't! I can tell you, i will go a little bit more out of my way to find instant polenta next time! At least I got a bit of arm exercise with all that continuous stirring - 25 minutes worth of it!

Anyway, I digress! The Quince Lamb with Blue Cheese Polenta was a hit! The quince gave it a nice sweet taste, but the blue cheese with the polenta helped tone down the sweetness a bit. It was quite delicious!

Easy Vegetable Soup

This Easy Vegetable Soup is a great little soup to make with winter vegetables. And pretty easy to do, since most of it just requires the use of a grate, and no need to cook for ages. Also the added bonus - not requiring a blender, it means less difficult appliances to wash up afterwards! I know i would rather wash a grater than a blender! The soup was quite tasty, considering how easy it is to make. Great to make for a warm lunch on a cool winters day or for a quick dinner with some nice crusty bread. Or even for an entree.

Spice Roasted Ribs

Well today I cooked something I have never bought or cooked before - pork spare ribs! And I have to say, thanks to Donna Hay's recipe for Spice Roasted Ribs it was an easy and delicious experience! The smell of the spices and sugar caramelising on the ribs as they cooked brought back memories of one of my favourite restaurants - one we don't go to anymore because the one on our side of town closed down (much to my dismay!). It was so similar to the ribs I could never refuse at Lonestar Steakhouse. While they were cooking, all I could think of was the bucket of unshelled peanuts they used to give you, and it was customary to throw the shell over your shoulder onto the floor as you ate them! And the music would start up and all the staff would stop what they were doing, come out and start bootscooting around the tables! It was a fun restaurant. Maybe one of these days we might have to venture to the Dark Side (only joking!!!) and take the boys there.

So, this was tonight's dinner. It was delicious, and one I will definitely be doing again!

Gourmet Beef Burger

The main for tonight's dinner was the Gourmet Beef Burger. I did end up having to substitute a few ingredients due to the sleeping arrangement of my boys - usually they nap at the same time so once they are done we can go and do whatever errands need doing. Today however, the bub decided that he didn't want to sleep while his big brother did, so I didn't get out to the shop for the ingredients I needed until 4pm. I needed to get back as quick as possible, so just went to the little shop near us. Unfortunately there wasn't any pancetta or onion relish, so I went with bacon and decided to caramalise the onions with some balsamic vinegar instead. It turned out pretty well! Maybe next time I will be a bit more organised!

Standby Chocolate Brownies

For the dessert portion of tonight's three course meal, I decided to make the standby chocolate brownies. A good thing about this recipe is that there is no need to use an electric mixer, so it is something i can do while the kids are in bed. It is relatively quick to prepare and cook as well, and with simple ingredients, its something that can be made whenever you have the need for something chocolatey and rich.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Tonight I am planning on doing a three course dinner - as part of another challenge I am taking part in at the moment. So I decided to get the first course made early in the day and chose to make the delicious Roasted Pumpkin Soup. I have tried this recipe before and loved it. The part I like the most is that i don't need to peel or cut up the pumpkin - I am always a little bit terrified of cutting my finger off when peeling and cutting pumpkin! The pumpkin just roasts with the onion in the oven, and smells lovely as it does so!

Once the pumpkin and onion is blended, and the other ingredients added, it results in a lovely sweet soup, and its hard to stop at just one serve!

Chocolate and cinnamon wontons

I had a spare 20 minutes yesterday afternoon, so I started having a flick through Fast, Fresh, Simple, to see if there was something I could quickly rustle up. I just happened to have all the ingredients for the chocolate and cinnamon wontons. It sounded like a lovely little treat for a Saturday afternoon, so I set about making them. Lovely, crunchy little pockets filled with soft melting chocolate, dusted with cinnamon sugar. So easy, and a lovely little snack to have with a lovely freshly made espresso.

Welcome!

Hello, and thank you for reading my blog! I am about to embark on a cooking adventure - working my way through Donna Hay's newest cookbook, Fast, Fresh, Simple. I decided to try this because I noticed I was cooking the same things over and over, and not being very adventurous. This cookbook seemed like the perfect way for me to attempt new dishes, whilst being able to use everyday fresh or packaged ingredients that I can find at the supermarket. And also, having two young boys, I wanted recipes that are quick and uncomplicated - at the end of the day I don't have a lot of time to be fiddling about and fussing over dinner.

I have been watching the series airing on Foxtel's Lifestyle Food channel, and true to Donna Hay's style, she makes everything look so easy and I am hoping for the same experience! I have already tried a few of the recipes from the cookbook, inspired by the TV series. All have been a success, and while my plating skills are nowhere near as good, I am hoping that over the course of this experiment it will improve! And I am hoping that I will also find some new staple recipes that the whole family will love, and have fun along the way!

So as Donna would say, what could be better than that?