Tag: home cooking

Everyday life, Food, Motherhood, Thoughts

Banana and pecan bread

by wattleandash4 Comments on Banana and pecan bread
Banana and pecan bread

Bananas are a very divisive subject in our house. Adam hates them with a vengeance, I don’t mind a ‘lady finger’ every now and again and Paul loves identifying them (‘nah-nah’) but will only eat them at daycare, never at home 🙃. So when I found myself with a couple of small, very over-ripe bananas the other day, I decided the only solution was to make banana bread. I’ll confess, part of my desire to whip up a loaf was the fact Adam won’t eat it and Paul isn’t partial to cake – I knew I’d be able to slowly devour my sweet treat over the course of several days…

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Everyday life, Food, Motherhood, Thoughts

Pesto pasta with meatballs

by wattleandash3 Comments on Pesto pasta with meatballs
Pesto pasta with meatballs

Not long after Paul was born my mum, dad and brother all came to visit. One night my brother whipped up this pasta for dinner. Still recovering from childbirth and breastfeeding around the clock left me very hungry in those early days and this dish just really hit the spot that night. I can remember going back for seconds and then tucking into another bowl again the following day for lunch.

It’s become a regular meal at our house since and when my brother was in town recently he kindly offered to make this pasta again, knowing it’d be a winner. It really is a very simple meal, but it’s quick (can be thrown together in around half an hour), satisfying and toddler friendly…

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Everyday life, Food, home

French toast with carameralised peaches and thyme

by wattleandash2 Comments on French toast with carameralised peaches and thyme
French toast with carameralised peaches and thyme

This recipe came about a couple of years ago, when Adam and I were gifted a huge basket of home grown peaches. The fruit had been picked a little too early and as a result the peaches never ripened properly. It felt wasteful to just toss the peaches into the green waste bin, so I decided to show them a little love.

With a little time, butter and sugar I was able to transform those peaches into something soft, sweet and syrupy. This dish has now become a well-loved favourite in our house, particularly at this time of the year when the days are long and warm and the stone fruit is abundant. The thyme seems like a slightly odd addition, but its subtle, earthy flavour works wonderfully with the sweet peaches.

This is definitely not an ‘everyday’ breakfast, rather best savoured on a slow Saturday morning, in pyjamas with a cup of coffee in hand…

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Everyday life

Spring vegetable and goat’s cheese tart

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Spring vegetable and goat’s cheese tart

This tart is one of those dishes I don’t make nearly often enough. I always thoroughly enjoy it, its ingredients are fresh and flavourful and it’s surprisingly filling. It’s a wonderful combination of crunchy pastry, creamy goat’s cheese, crisp greens and herbs. For me though the standout ingredient is tarragon with its almost aniseed like flavour. It’s herb I don’t use often, but it gives this tart such a wonderful lift.

The creator of this tart is Wagga Wagga based commercial cookery teacher, Sara Morley. Sara shared it, many years ago, as part of a regular ‘foodie’ segment she had on ABC Riverina. I can remember tasting a sample on the day she spoke about the recipe, telling Sara how delicious it was. Sara kindly shared the recipe with me, so now I feel it’s time to share the recipe with you…

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Everyday life, Food, home

Lemon and blueberry squares

by wattleandash4 Comments on Lemon and blueberry squares
Lemon and blueberry squares

Over the last few days it’s really felt like spring. The air is just that little bit warmer, the afternoons just that little bit brighter and there are blossom covered trees on just about every street in town. After such a quiet autumn and winter, where staying in was pretty much mandatory, spring feels like a season of optimism .

I’m envisaging small, but exceptionally jovial socially distant gatherings, outside in the fresh air – underneath trees with brand new leaves. Those sorts of get-togethers deserve a treat – something colourful, crunchy and creamy. Something like lemon and blueberry squares…

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Everyday life, Food, home

Parmesan and rosemary biscuits

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Parmesan and rosemary biscuits

Now that I’m back working again, I’ll be bringing a packed lunch from home most days I’m in the office. I find (especially since I’m still breastfeeding in the mornings, evenings and sometimes overnight) that I need something substantial to eat in the middle of the day and a few smaller snacks for mid morning and mid afternoon.

Lunch itself is normally pretty easy to get together – leftovers from dinner the night before, a salad using whatever’s in the fridge, or soup and toast on cold days.  However, I always struggle a little bit with finding different types of snacks, especially ones that can be eaten both at my desk or out and about.

Enter Parmesan and rosemary biscuits.  They’re delightfully savoury, have a wonderful cheesy flavour and pair beautifully with fruit…

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Everyday life, Food, home

Madeira cake with passion fruit icing

by wattleandash5 Comments on Madeira cake with passion fruit icing
Madeira cake with passion fruit icing

The grey clouds rolled in this weekend past bringing with them rain, fog and thunder –  rather apt given the southern hemisphere saw in the winter solstice on Saturday night.  As it often does when the weather is moody, I got a craving to bake. Whilst something dark and decadent would’ve probably suited the conditions best, I felt the need for something bright and light.  So with a little inspiration from my fruit bowl, I whipped up an easy loaf cake, which filled the house with the heady scent of summer…

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Everyday life, Food, home

The quest for crumpets

by wattleandash4 Comments on The quest for crumpets
The quest for crumpets

I’ve had a long love affair with crumpets. To me, they’re the perfect snack – just enough to curb your hunger without spoiling your next main meal, and you can eat them with both sweet and savoury toppings (honey + butter and grilled cheese are my two recommendations).

Adam and I have consumed quite a few packets of supermarket crumpets over the last month, so when a recipe for homemade crumpets popped up in one of my social media feeds the other day, I took it as a sign that we needed to try making them ourselves…

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Everyday life, Food, home

Hot cross buns

by wattleandash2 Comments on Hot cross buns
Hot cross buns

The Easter weekend was a combination of brilliant sunshine and windy, grey days – the epitome of autumn weather in our part of Australia. It felt good to hunker down at home, binge watch a bit of television (Sky One’s Trollied on streaming channel Stan) and tuck into warm, comforting food. Hot cross buns are a favourite in our house in the lead-up to Easter but instead of buying them this year, Adam decided he wanted to bake them…

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Everyday life, Food, home, Thoughts

The week that was

by wattleandash3 Comments on The week that was
The week that was

How’s isolation life treating you?  I find have days where I enjoy being within in the confines of four walls – warm, content and protected from the outside world.  Other days I feel claustrophobic and yearn for normality and the ability to just go and do as I please.   It is what it is though and like all challenging situations I know this too will pass.

Here’s how my last seven days have looked…

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