Sunday 16th October - birthday cake and icing, vegie sausage rolls

Made my vegie sausage roll filling (recipe on here) as it was dd2's birthday party at gym today.

And here is the birthday cake - the two cakes from yesterday.

Made butter icing in the tmx and here is the finished red and white cake.

Sunday 2nd October - cream of vegetable soup, spanakopita, Nigella's flourless choc brownies.

Lunch - cream of vegetable soup - chopped garlic, added chicken stock (made yesterday), 2 potatoes, cauliflower and mushrooms, cooked 20 mins, whizzed up and added some cream.

Dinner - Chicken in Lemon sauce, Spanakopita and Brocolli.

Made the Spanakopita mix in the tmx based on a Gordon Ramsay recipe in his World Kitchens cookbook.

I used diff quantites depending on what I had but

- chopped an onion, added olive oil and sauteed 5 mins

- Meanwhile wilted the spinach leaves (200g, could easily use more, recipe calls for 500g)

- Added spinach and tsp of nutmeg to the onion in the bowl and 200g feta, chopped

- Added 2 large eggs and 180ml thickened cream and mixed.

(could now add pine nuts)

- Placed 10 sheets of filo pastry in the bottom of a baking dish, basting with melted butter in between, added mixture, folded over edges, topped with 4 more sheets crumpled on top and cooked 50 mins at 170° in the oven.

The chicken I did on the stove top - flattened chicken breast pieces, coated in seasoned flour, cooked a couple of mins each side and set aside. Made the sauce, couple of cubes chicken stock, splash white wine, lemon zest, garlic (sauted first), lemon juice and a little cream to the juices in the pan. When thickening added the chicken back to warm through and served.

Also made Nigella's flourless choc brownies http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/flourless-chocolate-brownies-with-hot-chocolate-sauce-22 for dessert.

Used chopped macadamia/cashew/almond instead of walnuts.

OMG this is so rich!! No way would I go the choc sauce too. Really yum and I guess the nuts are healthy, lol.

Was still warm and very gooey but reading the comments should harden up in the fridge, though I liked it as a gooey dessert.

So a really yummy dinner, the kids all loved it as well as the adults, dd2 asked for it every day, lol. As I've mentioned before I so love veal/chicken in lemon sauce and it's so quick and easy should do it more often. The flattened chicken is so tender too.

Wed 29th September- shortbread, pastry, lemon meringue pie, bread crumbs

Did a bit of cooking today.

Made - shortbread biscuits (EDC)

Made short crust pastry - and then lemon meringue pie (EDC)

Made herby parmesan bread crumbs for chicken schnitzel for dinner.

Friday 30th July - yoghurt, pastry, sauce, pie

Friday 30th July

Yoghurt - Let's see if it works this time. Put it in the airing cupboard (with the hot water tank) to see if the warmer environment helps.

Dinner - Chicken and vegie pie.

1. Made puff pastry as per the edc and popped in the fridge to rest.

2. Made Bechamel (white) sauce as per EDC - this is sooooo quick and easy, very very impressed by the quality and ease.

3. chopped garlic and herbs (parsley, oregano, coriander) added carrot, courgette, mushrooms, chopped for a couple of seconds on speed 4.

4. in a bowl mixed shredded cooked chicken, bechamel sauce, vegie mix, 2 tbsp vegie stock concentrate and pepper.

5. rolled out and lined baking dish with pastry, added filling and covered with rest of pastry.

6. Baked in the oven till cooked and golden