Author: carly macaulay

potato and leek soup

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its winter. fire places, warm socks, pyjamas and soup.

 the children have all returned to school after a two week break. there is peace..   i find myself with a moment.

there are so many things on the list to do,

but not now.

now, i’ll drink tea and make soup.

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ingredients

8 large potatoes,3 leeks,1 brown onion,2 cloves garlic,2 teaspoons dried thyme,chicken stock to taste,olive oil, 20 grams butter,water to cover,salt and cracked pepper,1/4 cup cream, chives to garnish

method

slice leeks straight down the middle disregard outer leaves and wash thoroughly under cold water. Chop leeks and onion and sauté with tablespoon of olive oil and the butter until softened in texture. Add the thyme, garlic and chicken stock let cook a minute or so, then add chopped and peeled potatoes. Cook on low heat for approximately 8 minutes before adding enough water to just cover bring to the boil then lower the heat to a simmer until potato’s are cooked through. Blend soup with a hand blender until smooth in consistency return to a low heat and add the cream and season as necessary, serve with finely chopped chives and crusty bread.

blueberry and ricotta hotcakes

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my husband and i recently had a rare weekend off without any children, well almost, we still had georgie with us.. she’s not quite ready to momentarily part with us just yet. usually, feeling free and unrestricted by little ones we would head out for breakfast and coffee to one of our favourite haunts. instead i talked him into staying in with the enticement of blueberry hotcakes, stove stop coffee and movies in bed. of course, being the new enthusiastic blogger i’m fast becoming i needed to pause somewhere in there for the photography shoot. i can say, it was well worth it.. they defiantly tasted as good as they looked.

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BLUEBERRY AND RICOTTA HOTCAKES

ingredients

1 punnet fresh blueberries, 2 cups self raising flour, 2tbs caster sugar, 600ml butter milk, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 egg, 80grams melted butter, 300grams fresh ricotta, 1 tsp vanilla extract, maple syrup to serve

method

combine flour, sugar,baking powder in a bowl and mix lightly. mix egg, butter milk and vanilla extract and add to dry ingredients. stir through ricotta.

heat non stick fry pan add a little butter, put large spoonfuls of mixture in the pan cook over a medium heat until lightly caramelised then gently flip over and repeat for a minute or so on the other side, finish off the cooking process in the oven at 180° for 10 minutes or until cooked through. serve with maple syrup

buttermilk pancakes for boo

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on our second trip to vietnam, boo was 10 months old. we fell in love with the people, the people fell in love with boo.  ladies would call from across busy  streets, boo boo, boo boo… come and see me boo.

they were always smiling.. always  happy to share their pineapple filled pancakes with boo.

BUTTER MILK PANCAKES

ingredients

2 1/2cups self raising flour, 2tbs caster sugar, 750ml buttermilk, 1tsp baking powder,1 egg, 80grams  melted butter, maple syrup,1tsp cinnamon

method

combine flour, sugar,baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl. mix eggs, butter and buttermilk together.stir into flour mixture.

heat a non stick pan add a little butter to coat, pour large spoonfuls of batter into the pan wait for bubbles to appear and then turn and cook for a further 1 to 2 minutes. heap up cooked pancakes onto a wooden chopping board pour over maple syrup and dust with icing sugar

poached cinnamon brown pears

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POACHED CINNAMON BROWN PEARS

Ingredients

 6 brown pears not peeled, halved and core removed

1 cinnamon stick

3/4 cup brown sugar

water as needed

method

In a large pot place the  pears, cinnamon stick, brown sugar and enough water to just cover.   Bring to the boil then allow to simmer for 8 to 10 minutes or until the pears are soft enough for a knife to slide easily into them.

Drain the water and allow pears to cool slightly.  Pears can be kept whole in the fridge to add to breakfast cereals or porridge, or to make a puree  simply blend  in a food processor.  This is perfect for babies first meals or freeze and add to add to muffin and cake recipes as needed.

this is boo

this is boo

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our boo, not long has he  turned two.  he is one of five children and has successfully nominated himself as the leader of the pack.

he is yet to find his words, not really finding it necessary to talk.. for he has every family member perfectly  understanding his babble. there’s not much that this two year old

doesn’t get away with, we can never get past that smile.. if only the rest of life was that easy.