QLD Floods 2011

 (photo www.couriermail.com.au)

Ok so apologies to all that I haven't blogged in over a week!!

Although I am sure you have all been preoccupied with what's going on in the northern part of Australia.

I have been rather busy myself with the evacuation of our place then the clean up of our place and the clean up at Damo's work.

I have been staying with my parents and my mum is so wonderful that I haven't had to cook at all!!

I wanted to quickly blog to share another blog which I have come across... Brisbane has been overwhelmed by the number of volunteers and this has meant that a lot of people who have wanted to help out haven't been able to.

Something that everyone needs to do while they're out there working is to... eat. When we did the major clean up at our place I ate breakfast at about 7:30am and then didn't eat again until 8:30 that night.

This lady Danielle has looked into how you can help by providing food for those in need! Check out her blog at http://www.digella.blogspot.com/ if you are feeling helpless and wanting to lend a hand.

There are so many amazing Queenslanders out there and we thank everyone who helped us during this tough time and to all of the people who offered their unwavering support!!!

Lots of love from my temporary home xxx

Creamy Salmon Pasta + Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Slice

Tonight I want to quickly share a recipe with you all that I just created!

Damo said he felt like pasta for dinner so I whipped up a creamed based salmon sauce!

I don't really have a name for it yet but I was promptly told it was "very yummy baby" and it was enjoyed so much so that he finished his own bowl and then proceeded to finish the scraps at the bottom of my bowl!

So here's the recipe but feel free to tweak it as much as you like as I only quickly slapped it together.

Ingredients:
brown onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
6 mushrooms, thinly sliced
50g baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 tbps italian parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp parmesan cheese, finely grated
dash of white wine (maybe like 1/4-1/2 cup??)
250ml light philadelphia cream for cooking
185g can Tassal premium tasmanian salmon in springwater
1 tsp cornflour
Linguine pasta

Method:

1. Heat oil in pot and saute onion until soft, add garlic and cook for about a minute. 
2. Add the mushrooms and wine and stir until mushrooms are soft. 
3. Add the cream and stir until smooth and combined, add the cornflour and leave to slightly thicken for about 2 minutes. 
4. Add in can of salmon and stir to separate chunks until salmon is evenly distributed.
5. Add the spinach, parsley and cook until spinach is tender, stirring occasionally.
6. Stir in cheese before serving.
7. Serve with linguine and topped with parmesan cheese.

ENJOY... oh and it goes very well with a big glass of Crowded House Sauvignon Blanc!

Little side note - I love using Philadelphia cream for cooking (still dreaming that those hot angel guys will appear in my kitchen) and I always use the light version. Kraft have released a few cream cheese cookbooks over the years but I have recently discovered that they have published all of the recipes at http://www.philadelphiacreamcheese.com.au/Recipes/Dinner.aspx so go and check it out.

If you're feeling adventurous you could try the yummy yummy cookies and cream cheesecake slice, I have included a picture below because Steph (from work) made it last weekend and brought me a piece to work.. absolutely divine!!

Peace out.. G xx

Baking Baking Baking....

Hi all,

What to blog about today... I think I want to share my baking passion with you all and maybe inspire people to get creative, bake from scratch and get to know how rewarding it can be make something yummy that makes your loved ones happy!!

I try and bake at least once a week, usually on Sunday while my better half is at work, but lately I have gone slightly overboard...

I wanted to share a few yummy goodies that I have made lately.

CHRISTMAS! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!! One of my favourite things about Christmas is gingerbread!! So much so that this year I tackled a traditional gingerbread house... from scratch!!! (I used the recipe out of the 2010 Coles Christmas flyer which was free at Coles!!)

               

Some Christmas cookies (both were made from www.taste.com.au recipes and used the fewest and easiest ingredients I could find)

I went on a little birthday cake baking spree... I have the number thing down pat but really want to get into more complicated cakes now! For the cakes below I used the recipe for my favourite ever cake.. the AWW Family Chocolate Cake and used all of creative juices for the decorating!

          

Suzie G handy hints for baking:

1. Find the simplest recipe that you can - some of the yummiest things I have ever made have come from "kids" recipes. They usually use the least complicated ingredients.. I mean who really uses almond essence?? Simple recipes are less daunting and the easier something is to do usually means you will do it again.. especially once you realise that 20 minutes of baking can lead to days and days and DAYS of yummy treats.. (except if you live in my house.. the way to Damo's heart is definitely through his stomach!!) a great place to find easy recipes are at www.taste.com.au 
2. Build your pantry up slowly - it is definitely cheaper to bake from scratch but it can be a bit costly to buy everything at once. I would start by getting flours, cocoa, vanilla extract/essence, bicarb and caster sugar. most recipes will use those staples, then as you go along and find new recipes, buy the extra one or two ingredients as needed. The ingredients will usually last more than 5 recipes so you won't have to keep rushing out to the shops everytime you want to make that new brownie recipe that you love!
3. Get to know your oven - I have lived in a lot of rentals in my life and so I always do a few test cases in an oven before I go crazy on a new recipe!!! Find out what the best setting is for baking by either reading the manual or by trial and error! Technology means that items get bigger and better everytime so be very wary of new ovens and the expensive ones! They tend to be more powerful than the old school ones so start by setting temps to 5 degs lower than the recipe and remember that you can also cook for longer if you need to but it is bloody hard to turn back time once your cake is already burnt!!
4. Read the recipe at least three times before you start - my mum taught me this rule a very long time ago and trust me it works.. I even re-read recipes that I have been making for years. It is so easy to miss a simple step or to put in a wrong quantity but trust me it is worth spending an extra 5 minutes reading a recipe because using salt instead of sugar could scar you for life!

Now that you have read this... I challenge you to stop baking from packet mixes. You will get such a higher sense of satisfaction by baking from scratch and that satisfaction will make the whole baking experience so much more enjoyable.

Remember to always cook because you want to, not because you have to!!

My final word is to remember to SHARE!!! As much as I love some of my recipes, I always make extras or sacrifice some of my own to share with family, friends and work colleagues because you get so much more enjoyment by making others happy (not to mention that sharing helps the waist line)!!

Checkyas later!! G xx

Fried noodle, chicken and bok choy

One of my favourite things to do in life is cook! I inherited this from my wonderful mother who always taught me to read a recipe in its entirety three times before you start. To this day, I even re-read recipes I know by heart before I start (just in case). I think a very important thing with cooking is to cook because you want to, not because you have to. I also love making new wonderful things to impress my better half and to this day haven't really come across a meal that he hasn't devoured!!

I often bring my leftovers into work and have people ask "what's that amazing smell" so I have decided to share some of my favourite recipes on this blog. Please be ware that most of these are from somebody elses recipes so I will always cite where I have got it from to give the creator the true credit they deserve. Most of the time I will tweak things a little bit so look out for my handy hints along the way!

The first recipe I am sharing is a fried noodle and chicken dish - one of our absolute favourites that we pretty much fight over the leftovers!! My better half and I recently visited Japan so I got a lot of inspiration to cook more simple yet flavoursome asian dishes. Please note these dishes are always enjoyed better with chopsticks!!!

ENJOY!

Ingredients:

250g dried rice stick noodles

1 tablespoon peanut oil

3 eggs, beaten lightly

1 medium brown onion, chopped finely

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

2cm piece fresh ginger, grated

500g chicken mince

500g baby bok choy (or regular), chopped coarsely

¼ cup soy sauce

3 tbsp oyster sauce

½ cup chopped fresh coriander

3 cups (240g) bean sprouts

Method:

1.    Place noodles in a large heatproof bowl; cover with bowling water and stand for 5 minutes or until tender, then drain.

2.    Add a little oil to the headed wok. Add half of the egg, swirl to cover base of wok and cook until set. Remove omelette from wok and repeat the process with remaining egg. After omelette has cooled, roll tightly and slice thinly.

3.    Heat remaining oil in wok, stir fry onion, garlic and ginger until onion softens. Add the chicken and stir fry until cooked through. Add bok choy, soy sauce and coriander, stir fry until bok choy is tender. Stir in noodles, omelette, sprouts and oyster sauce and mix until all combined and heated through.

Recipe courtesy of Australian Women’s Weekly Fast Chicken but tweaked to perfection by me!

Ask Suzie

So this is the first post of my new blog.

A little thing that I have started to keep myself nice and busy throughout 2011 and also a place where I can share information on just about anything.

If you don't already know me... there's something that you really need to know... I KNOW EVERYTHING.

Well at least I think I do, or better put, if I don't know something, it only takes me about 2 minutes to find out about it.

I love to research, I love giving advice (not always taking it) and I LOVE being right. One thing I love about my friends, family and peers is that they often come to me for the answer because it's easier to "ask suzie" than to search for themselves - this keeps me nice and busy and makes life V interesting!

I have started this blog so that people can ask questions, share knowledge, get an insight into some new things and of course so that people have a place to come to waste time on the internet (not like there isn't already enough places out there) ... jump on board peeps!!

TTYL