My best and my most favourite pasta salad recipe

Hi peeps,

Well, I believe this is my best and my most favourite pasta salad recipe. Ever. Yes I have been watching (too much?) Charlie and Lola lately.  I have been making this recipe for over 10 years now.  I can not say which book I first saw the recipe in, this is my version, and how we like to eat it.  This salad we eat for dinner in summer (and winter, actually) and it is a great one to take along to a BBQ or a picnic.  It is very quick to prepare, got to love that.  I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do.

 

Pasta Salad

• Cherry/small tomatoes (as many or as few as you like, I use between 10 and 20)
• 200g of your favourite feta (I like to use dodoni.  I LOVE dodoni, but any feta will do)
• A handful of green or black pitted olives (or a mixture of both, use as many or few as you like), chopped if you like.
• Large handful of basil leaves
• 300g pasta, penne or spirals work well
• Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 200C.
2. Cut the tomatoes in half and chop the feta into cubes.
3. Make two foil parcels to cook the tomatoes and feta in. Using two lengths of foil (each about 50 or 60cm long), fold in half, and add the tomatoes to the centre of one, and the feta to the other.  Season to taste (salt and pepper on the tomatoes and pepper on the feta)  Fold the sides up around the food, and cover the top too, so each is well enclosed.
4. Cook in the oven for 15 minutes.  
5. Meanwhile, cook your pasta and drain.
6. When the tomatoes and feta are cooked, open each parcel carefully, they will be hot and a lot of steam will escape.  I allow the feta to cool for 10-20 minutes, this allows it to keep its shape better in the salad.  If you don't mind it getting all smashed up, use straight away.
7. Add the tomatoes, feta and olives to the pasta, mix well.  
8. Roughly rip the basil leaves up and mix through with everything else.
9. Enjoy!

Have a yummy day.

Cat xox

Pac-Man and Xiao Long Bao

Hi peeps,

We recently went out to dinner to a restaurant we have never been to before in Hong Kong, called DinTaiFung. They have restaurants all over the world, including one in Sydney.  They are apparently world famous for their steamed dumplings. The menu had a huge selection of different dumplings to choose from (many more that are listed on their website), we ordered two different types, the usual pork dumplings (Xiao Long Bao) and spinach dumplings.  Both types were delicious.  We had to order a second serving of the pork dumplings as Abbey ate 6 or 7 of them all by herself!  The noodles with the peanut soup were also scrummy, we ordered a second serving of that too!

The toilets in the building had these fabulous Pac-Man tiled murals. Do you like Pac-Man?  I do.  It was part of my childhood.  I was like an excited child, taking photos out the front of the toilets. I did get a few strange looks, I can tell you.  Pac-Man in a wheelchair too.  The door handles in the toilets were ghost shaped, pity I was not able to get a photo of them.

We will definitely be eating at DinTaiFung again, not just for the delicious food, but to see these fabulous Pac-Man murals again.

While I am still talking about Pac-Man, how cool are these cookie cutters I bought?

A few months ago I was eating my lunch, and saw this Pac-Man in my partially eaten avocado rice cracker.

Yes, I love Pac-Man.  Almost as much as I love Space Invaders.

Cheers.  Cat. 

Fancy a carrot in your ear?

OK, I may have to make a promise. No more fabric carrots after this post. First, we had them topless.

Then we had them with their tops on.

Now we have them with ribbons added, and they look even cuter (excellent idea, Clare)

If you like, you can put them in your big sisters ear.

Big sisters get rather cranky with you if you put them in her ear.

So, why not put them in your own ears?

Much more fun to put them in your own ears.

OK, no more fabric carrots from me.

But I can't promise you that you won't end up with one in your ear.

Cat

Home made sushi rolls

Abbey has asked for home made sushi rolls for her kinder snack today. They are easy to make (when you know what to do)

Maybe I'll do a post on how to make them, if anyone is interested?

Have a lovely weekend peeps.

Cat.

Salmon Fish Cakes: Easy Peasy Dinner Winner

I am joining Emma again this week, with an Easy Peasy Dinner Winner.

This recipe is super easy, and very tasty (if you like/eat salmon) Abbey likes them as she calls these "pink fish cakes". Pink is her favourite colour.

Salmon Fish Cakes

• 450g potatoes, approximately - this is the weight before you peel them
• 400g tin red salmon (you can use pink salmon, but the flavour is not as strong)
• 1/2 an onion, chopped (I use red ones) or some spring onions, chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato sauce or a glug of sweet chili sauce
• Salt and pepper
• Bread crumbs for coating
• Oil for cooking

Peel and chop the potatoes into chunks. Cook them in boiling water, then mash (with a little butter if you like) I use the same saucepan I cooked them in to save on washing up.

Drain the salmon, remove as many bones as you like - I remove the large bones, but leave in the small ones as they are a good source of calcium.

Flake the drained salmon into the mashed potato. Add onion, your sauce of choice, season with salt and pepper. Optional: I used to add an egg to the mixture, but no longer do this.

Mix well. Roll into balls, flatten them into patties (very important) and coat them all with breadcrumbs. The Japanese Panco bread crumbs work really well (thanks to Corrie from Retromummy for this tip in an email when we were discussing our salmon fish cakes in an email after the Freaky Chocolate Brownie Slice Incident)

These can fall apart when you cook them, but if you make them early in the day, and store them in the fridge (the longer the better) they tend to hold their shape better - as long as you already flattened them into patties earlier on.

Cook in a little oil until golden on both sides.

Serve with salad/veggies/oven chips/fried rice. Any leftovers taste yummy the next day too, heated up in the microwave.

This recipe halves really easy too, if you only have a 200g tin of salmon.

Enjoy! Cat

Cheats lamb pasties

If you want to make quick, easy lamb pasties - this is the recipe for you!

What you will need:

• 500g minced lamb (you can use beef, chicken, pork or even turkey if you like, but lamb just works with these)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 2-3 small potatoes, peeled and diced quite small. Cook in the microwave for a few minutes until almost fully cooked, or boil them
• 1 red onion, diced
• mixed herbs
• 810g tin crushed tomatoes
• Salt and pepper
• 4 puff pastry sheets (or shortcrust if you want)
• Optional: other vegetables, such as corn, grated carrot or zucchini

Take pastry out of the freezer to thaw.

Heat oil in a large fry pan. Add mixed herbs, cook until they soften a little.

Add the onion, cook for a few minutes.

Add the mince lamb, no need to break it up too much, let it cook in largish chunks.

Add the tomatoes and potatoes (and any other vegetables), stir well, and cook for 10-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Take off the heat, and let it cool down a bit - if it is too hot, it can make the pastry melt. Or cook all the above steps a few hours before you need it.

You can either make 4 large pasties, or 16 small ones (chop each sheet of pastry in quarters for small ones. The small ones are easier for kids to manage)

Spoon the mixture into the middle of your pastry.

Fold up two corners of pastry to meet in the middle, as shown in the photo below.

Fold the other two corners up, and press all seams together. Prick with a fork a few times. Baste each one with milk or egg if you want the to pastry to really brown (I can never be bothered as I am usually in a hurry)

Cook in a moderate oven (180C) 40-ish minutes.

They are really hot straight out of the oven - I put the kids on their plates at least 10 minutes before dinner starts, with the pasties cut open to let out the heat.

Visit Emma for many more easy peasy dinner recipes.

If you like cooking with minced meats like me, Pip from Meet me at Mikes recently posted this amazing meatloaf recipe. I put all the ingredients in the food processor, and leave the coffee out of the sauce. This recipe has become a favourite around our house now, with both Chris and Abbey requesting it for dinner all the time - fine by me, as it is easy and yummy. Tastes great in sandwiches too, with a little home made tomato relish. Yum!

Happy cooking.

Cat.

Easy Peasy Dinner: Chicken and Apple Balls

This is my version of Annabel Karmel's Chicken and Apple Balls from her book New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner. I borrowed this book from the library when Abbey was a baby, and photocopied a few recipes I liked.
These chicken and apple balls are so yummy, all the big kids in our house love them too :)

Chicken and Apple Balls
600g chicken mince
1 onion (I use red/Spanish)
1 large granny smith apple, peeled and grated, then squeeze out juice with your hands (I drink the juice)
Small handful fresh parsley
1 tablespoon fresh thyme or sage, or a pinch of mixed dried herb
1 chicken stock cube, crumbled
50g fresh breadcrumbs or 1/2 cup packet breadcrumbs
Salt and pepper 

 Put all ingredients in your food processor (I have mixed it all by hand, and this worked fine too)  

 

Mix well.

 

Roll into approximately 22 small balls. 

 

Little Miss 4 had fun helping with this bit. 

 

Optional: coat balls with flour before cooking. I don't do this step any more. Shallow fry them in vegetable oil for 5-10 minutes, turning often. They really do cook quickly. I have cooked them in the oven also, but they did not taste as good. 

 

Yum! Serve with oven chips and/or mashed potato, and/or steamed vegetables. Enjoy. Visit Emma for many more Easy Peasy Dinner ideas.

Cheers, Cat.

Mars Bar Slice

I have been enjoying Emma's Easy Peasy Dinner winners every Tuesday, so I thought it was about time that I shared a recipe.

This easy slice is great for parties, a quick snack or your evening pudding. Tastes OK for breakfast too....so I have been told.

Mars Bar Slice

3 mars bars

50g butter (the recipe I was given called for 3oz, but I found this too much)

3 cups of rice bubbles (works OK with coco pops too, if you want a crazy chocolate fix)

1. Melt the mars bars and butter over a low heat until well combined.

2. Pour over the rice bubbles, mix well.

3. Spoon into a small lamington tin lined with baking paper (I use a 22cm square porcelain dish)

4. Let it cool to set. You can set it in the fridge, but I find it too messy to chop into squares if it has been in the fridge.

Optional: Ice it with 200g melted chocolate for even more of a chocolate hit.

Yum. Thanks to my friend Kate for sharing this recipe with me a few months ago. Since then, I have made it quite a few times as we all love it, and it is so easy to make.

Visit Emma for more great ideas.

Have a great night. Cat