Roasted Chicken and Chorizo

This Roasted Chicken and Chorizo is really quick and easy - pretty much grab all the ingredients, stick them in a roasting tray and bung in the oven.

I did have a missing ingredient though - I couldn't get any sprigs of fresh oregano, so that was left out. I was planning on sprinkling on a bit of dried oregano, but it wasn't until I was putting everything in the baking tray that I realised I didn't have any of that either!

The end result was lovely though, and there was so much of it we had leftovers! I had even done half the amount of chicken (since there are only two adults here and the boys don't eat huge amounts....yet).

Lemon Yoghurt Cake

This Lemon Yoghurt Cake was so easy to make, no electric mixer necessary! Which meant that Josh was able to help with all of the cake making process, and he really loves to bake with me! Its a little messier than if I was doing it on my own, but he has fun, so that's the main thing!

I don't have a ring tin, so used a springform tin instead, and the cake needed cooking a little longer than the recipe suggested - i am guessing because of the different tin.

The icing was so easy to make, and icing the cake while it is still hot sets the icing hard. The icing is really delicious, tangy, and almost lemonade like in flavour. The cake itself is so soft, and I will definitely be making it again! I am even planning on doing one for Ethan's first birthday party next week!

Lime and Lemongrass Chicken

I used a few new ingredients for this dish - lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves, neither of which I have ever used before. I don't usually do a lot of Asian cooking, but this Lime and Lemongrass Chicken was very easy to do, most of the hard work was done by the little food processor in chopping up the spice paste. The smell of the ingredients as they were cooking was lovely, and the chicken turned out perfectly cooked. I served the dish with a side of steamed rice (which i steamed with the leftover lemongrass and a kaffir lime leaf for extra flavour) and some blanched snow peas. It was a delicious dinner!

Lemon Pudding

The last lemon pudding I made required gelatin - quite amazingly, this one didn't and it still ended up thick! Very clever!

I had a small carton of cream and needed to use it up, so thought this Lemon pudding would be the perfect way to do that. It was very rich, but yummy! I only made a half batch, so I also halved the amount of lemon. However we do like tangy desserts in this house, so next time I would be tempted to double the amount of lemon - I have no idea if that will affect the outcome of the pudding or not, so don't quote me on that!

Prawn Fried Rice

I have never been very good at making fried rice, but this one was so easy, and had lots of flavour. We don't eat seafood very often in our house, because the boys are too young for shellfish (well Josh could probably have some now, but I doubt he would eat it!), so it was quite nice to have prawns for a change. I had some bolognaise sauce in the freezer, so i made the fried rice just for Steve and I, and Josh and Ethan had pasta.

I must admit though, I am a bit of a chili scaredy-cat - so i did scrape out the seeds. It still had just a little hint of chili, just enough for my liking. I will definitely be doing this one again, and even with a different protein, chicken would be lovely.

Speedy Roasted Chicken and Chips

Tonight we had the Speedy Roasted Chicken and Chips. The "speedy" part of it is in the cooking of the chicken, which I had to butterfly. It was the first time I have ever done that before, and unfortunately we don't have a pair of kitchen scissors, so I had to use a knife! It made it a bit fiddly, but I got the same end result. The chips were lovely with the flavoured oil brushed on them. Definitely much better than getting takeout chicken and chips! Plus we have leftover for some delicious chicken sandwiches tomorrow!

Buttermilk Panna Cotta

I was a bit concerned about trying this recipe, because I haven't had much luck with gelatin in the past. It either doesn't set, or has lumps of gelatin through the finished product. I was pleasantly surprised when i checked the dessert after 3 hours and it had set perfectly! I was even more pleased when we ate it for dessert tonight and there weren't any lumps - well not in mine anyway! So the Buttermilk Panna Cotta was lovely, creamy and delicious. And the passionfruit drizzled on top made it even better! I will definitely be making this one again.

Potato and Blue Cheese Frittata

I am usually not a huge fan of frittatas, because it seems to me to be just like having an omlette, and something that should be eaten at breakfast. But this Potato and Blue Cheese Frittata sounded like it might be promising. The finished product was lovely, with the salty blue cheese giving it heaps of flavour. I ended up serving the frittata with a little salad as well, but some steamed vegetables would have been great too.

Blood Orange Granita

Being the middle of winter and getting some of the coldest nights we have had so far at the moment (4 degrees, which might not be cold to some but it is in Perth!), an icy granita might seem like a strange dessert to make. But we have got a 5 year old blood orange tree in our back garden, and this year it has an abundance of fruit! The oranges are starting to fall off, so rather than waste them we decided to pick some off yesterday. We got a huge bagful, and there are still so many left on there!

So, needing to find something to do with all these oranges, I decided to give the Blood Orange Granita a go. They are pretty juicy oranges, although the redness hasn't developed as much as it should, so the end product isn't as red as the Donna Hay version. It did taste lovely fantastic though - very zingy, and I am definitely planning on doing it again! And will also be trying it with other citrus fruits, and any other suitable flavours. Roll on summer!

Baked Pumpkin and Sage Risotto

The Baked Pumpkin and Sage Risotto we had for dinner tonight was cooked by my husband Steve. It doesn't look too much like the picture in the cook book, there are missing sage leaves - we have a few herbs growing in the garden, and the sage looks a little bit sorry for itself, not many leaves and the ones that it does have are teeny tiny! There were enough to cook in the dish, but not to garnish it with. The dish was lovely in the end, although we did need to alter the cooking time slightly, which may have been because of the shape of the dish we used. But the end result still turned out great and the kids loved it!

Grilled Feta Greek Salad

This Grilled Feta Greek Salad was very tasty. Unfortunately the cheese didn't brown as it should have, I was cooking it in the pan with the greek patties i served with the salad, so it doesn't look as good as the Donna Hay version, but it tasted pretty nice! The feta cheese had a different texture once it was grilled, taking on the same texture as grilled haloumi. It was salty and delicious! The salad dressing was lovely too. It was a shame I burned the roof of my mouth on piece of pizza at lunch today, and had trouble eating my dinner because of it!

Pea and Ham Soup

So the start of a new month, and I think I am quite happy with the number of dishes I cooked in the first month. This recipe was actually made in June but I hadn't got round to posting it yet!

This pea and ham soup was so quick and easy to make, and its something that can be made really quickly on a cold winters day. The mint made it taste really fresh, and the use of the crispy proscuitto gave it an extra salty kick. It also has a lovely vibrant colour (the photo doesn't do it justice - it looked a different colour in real life, honest!!!) because it doesn't need to be cooked for a long time like most soups.