Garlic and artichoke conchiglie and a Menulog giveaway

ingredientsYou may or may not have put up with me whinging about my lack of oven recently. The oven seems to have miraculously fixed itself for the moment, but while it was out of action, I had to get creative with everything.

I love baking (stating the obvious slightly, I know) because my dinners tend to be baked, not just my desserts! Lasagnes, roasts…I even like to roast most of my vegies that I make into soups. So having no oven was a struggle. Continue reading “Garlic and artichoke conchiglie and a Menulog giveaway”

Gluten free garlic parmesan pull apart bread and Wintery weather

herbsThe weather in Sydney is consistently wet. It has been six days since I last posted a recipe, and the only excuse I have is the weather! Weather like this makes me want to cook and eat.

And repeat.

Blogging took a back seat while I busied myself baking (and eating) delicious Wintery foods that I thought I’d have to wait until next year to post.

flourI also got the chance to use some gluten free flour I was kindly given by Well & Good. I’d never baked with gluten free flour before (to be honest, I was pretty apprehensive!), but the result was perfect. The bread rose perfectly and crisped nicely. The gluten free flour seems to result in a slightly different tasting bread – not a bad taste, just slightly different to regular flour. Continue reading “Gluten free garlic parmesan pull apart bread and Wintery weather”

Mini mushroom tarts and lady beetles

A lady beetle was the highlight of my morning.

I opened a bag of baby spinach to put in a breakfast smoothie and she was there. I stared at her for a second, because it’s not what you expect of baby spinach. When you buy unwashed greens you sometimes encounter slugs or a teensy snail, or something equally squeamish…but mainly they’ve just got a little soil clinging to a few leaves.

She was so still and curled up that I assumed she was dead. I contemplated how long this gorgeous little beetle had been alive before she landed on the wrong leaf and was packaged up, shipped and refrigerated. Continue reading “Mini mushroom tarts and lady beetles”