Comforting favourites

Cold weather today (pretty chilly all week really) so some yummy wintry favourites for dinner.  Lamb rack, Italian ratatouille (caponata) and mashed potatoes.

Tasty dinner treats – lamb, caponata and mashed potatoes

The lamb (cut into Hungry Twins’-sized portions) was eaten with serious intent.  Skye and Grace managed to eat two cutlets each and probably would have eaten more if we hadn’t saved them for our dinner!  Next, they moved onto mashed potatoes and the Italian rat.  Working on improving their skills with bowls and spoons, there were mixed results.  Skye got the idea pretty quickly, but Grace was a bit slower on the uptake….

I think I might be getting the hang of this spoon thing!

Hmm, do I use the spoon? Quicker to use my hands!!

Either way, the Hungry Twins enjoyed it!  A few slices of plastic cheese were required while the apple and oat muffin warmed up in the microwave.  The muffin disappeared, so a few pears in juice were required…. A huge meal eaten and enjoyed by the Hungry Twins.  Post-meal bath required!

 

 

 

Chicken cacciatore (rather eat veg)

Sometimes I am surprised by what the Hungry Twins prefer to eat.  I made a lovely chicken cacciatore for dinner tonight and the Hungry Twins certainly seemed to enjoy it.

Chicken cacciatore

But pretty quickly, they decided that enough chicken was enough and they wanted something else.  I had made a sauté of mushrooms and zucchini with a dash of light soy and white wine and had allocated a little for the Hungry Twins.  That disappeared in an instant.  We had to raid our own plates to keep them happy!  I think they ate nearly their own bodyweight in veg….

Is that all there is?

After all of this, the Hungry Twins still managed to put away a couple of cherry tomatoes, several sticks of cheese, a handful of grapes and a pear!

 

 

 

Super chicken

Dinner always tastes better in good company. It certainly seemed the case tonight!  Granny is visiting from Sydney for the week and the Hungry Twins were very excited.  This all translated into huge appetites….

Marrakesh chicken, broccolini and mashed potato

The chicken (marinated in marrakesh spices, bought from Saskia Beer at the Barossa Farmers’ Market) was devoured in about a micro-second.  We had to tear pieces from our chicken to share with the Hungry Twins!  The broccolini wasn’t much of a hit (thankfully, Monty the golden retriever eats cooked broccoli!) but the mash was enthusiastically eaten from a spoon.

Where’s the chicken?

Do I have broccoli stuck in my teeth?

After all this food, you would think that they wouldn’t need anymore.  But no, plastic cheese (three slices between them), pears and grapes were required before they were satisfied!

http://www.barossafarmersmarket.com/home/

http://saskiabeer.com

 

Dinner from a box

Tasty chilli basil chicken tonight.  Easy to make – it comes out of a box (the flavours do anyway!).  Just add chicken and vegetables.

Chilli basil chicken

It’s one of those meals that require little thought – just chop up the chicken and veg, add the various sauces and there you go!  I use Marion’s Kitchen meal-in-a-box.  The flavours are great and even though it has a little bit of heat, the Hungry Twins love it.

Chicken from the bowl to my mouth…. (mostly)

A bit of plastic cheese and the last of the pears and two happy customers!  A bit of cleaning up to do – somehow the Hungry Twins manage to get sauce up to their elbows (even though they used their bowls for most of the meal!!).

http://marionskitchen.com.au/food-range/marions-kitchen-thai-basil-chilli-stir-fry/

 

 

Meat and three veg (and a bit of cheese)

Quite a lot of cheese, really.  Tonight for dinner the Hungry Twins had steak (marinated in worcestershire and light soy), leftover homemade baked beans and some broccoli and cauliflower cheese.

Steak and three veg

The steak was eaten with such enthusiasm that I was hard-pressed to keep up with the demand for sliced pieces (until the Hungry Twins have molars, chopped up steak is still the go).  The broccoli and cauliflower cheese was also a hit.  I made this using a River Cottage recipe that uses hot English mustard.  It has lots of tasty cheese and the addition of the mustard definitely adds to the flavour!

Tastes good!

Hmm, anymore cauliflower left?

The beans, leftover from the other night, were also happily eaten from a spoon (all the better for quicker eating!).  The Hungry Twins had a brief interlude of three slices of plastic cheese before a nice, fat and juicy Duchess pear for dessert.  Happiness all round.

 

Saturday sausages

The Hungry Twins are back in form.  A large breakfast of porridge (one bowl each) and vegemite crumpets, followed by morning tea (not something they normally have) of more crumpets and grapes.  All this food was needed for the Hungry Twins’ weekly swimming lesson – missed out on last week because they had colds.  Lunch was meat pies, leftover curry pasta and some cherry tomatoes (plus strawberries and yet more grapes).

Pies are pretty good!

Curry pasta (second time around) is ok too!

For dinner, the Hungry Twins had pork sausages (bought at our local Foodland), peas and leftover Italian rat.  The sausages went down pretty quickly, followed by the peas.  Then Grace proceeded to devour the rat, while Skye preferred the curry pasta left from lunch (and last night!).

Give me rat (lots of rat)…..

Do dogs like sausages?

A nice pear (gone in an instant) and a handful of grapes for dessert.  It looks like the Hungry Twins are back to their best!

 

 

 

Pear rediscovery

The Hungry Twins are definitely getting over their boring cold and are more interested in their food again.  For lunch they had BBQ chicken, cheese, cherry tomatoes and an all time favourite – olives!  Finally had the time to get to the shop that sells delicious (pitted) kalamata olives.  The Hungry Twins love these olives – I can’t believe I have been depriving them for so long….

Olives for lunch (can’t beat them)

It was such a nice day that we ate outside.  I’m sure it made the olives taste even better!  Dessert was a tasty Duchess pear, also bought today.  The Hungry Twins thought it was pretty good – although they were generous enough to donate a few pieces to the eagerly awaiting dogs….

It would be rude not to share

Homemade baked beans

Pork chop night tonight!  Served with roasted carrots, homemade baked beans and a few peas.

Baked beans for dinner!

The Hungry Twins loved it!  First they gobbled down the pork, then the peas were spotted (just boring old frozen peas, but the Hungry Twins do love them!) and these went as well.  Carrots next and then it was onto the baked beans – saving the best for last!  The butter beans were eaten by hand and the smaller cannellini beans were spoon-fed to the Hungry Twins.  Plastic cheese, some poached pears and a handful of grapes and that was it.  The Hungry Twins went through their meal so quickly, I didn’t even get a photo, so here is the recipe for the baked beans instead!

Once you have made your own baked beans, you will never want to use tinned ones again. This dish goes really well with grilled meats, especially pork.  It also tastes really good the next day on toast for breakfast!

• Preparation time: 10 minutes
• Cooking time: Around 60 minutes
• Serves: 6 as a side dish 

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• Medium onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 4 rashers of bacon or pancetta, chopped into small pieces
• 400gm tin butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 400gm tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 200ml chicken stock
• 400gm tin crushed tomatoes
• OPTIONAL100ml white wine
• OPTIONAL 1 small red chilli, finely chopped (you can use chilli flakes or we like to use homemade harissa)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200^oC.
2. Add olive oil to a heavy-based, oven-proof casserole dish over medium heat.  Cook onion and garlic until they start to soften (about five minutes).  Add the bacon pieces and cook until they start to brown (about five minutes).  Add chilli (if using) and stir.
3. Add butter and cannellini beans to pan and stir well.  Cook for about five minutes before adding white wine (if using) and stock.  Bring to a simmer and then add the tinned tomatoes and about 200ml water and stir well.
4. Bring to a simmer (about 10 minutes) then add to the oven and cook for around 30 minutes, stirring half way through.
5. Remove from oven and allow to rest for about five minutes before serving.