Today is not really going to plan.....

You know those days where you wish you just get out a big eraser and start over.

Or better still give it a shake and it ALL disappears like an Etch-a-Sketch.

How awesome would that be?!

I love Etch-a-Sketches!

Do you?

There were tears here this morning.

And last night.

And then more......

They were mine.

Watching your children struggle is not pleasant.

Knowing that it is so much better for your kids in the end to NOT rescue them is one of the HARDEST things as a parent to do.

That teaching them resilience is what is best for them.

That teaching them to accept the consequences of their behaviour is what is best for them.

That teaching them to understand that their behaviour has ramifications is best for them.

But sometimes the best path is not the easiest.

In your head you know that you are doing IS the right thing.

Meanwhile your heart BREAKS.

And ACHES.

And the tears are just sitting there on the edge caught by surface tension waiting to spill.........

Today is NOT going to plan.

No wonder I hate plans.

I totally suck at them.

Onwards........

GOURMETGIRLFRIEND'S CHARGRILLED ZUCCHINI, FETTA & MINT SALAD:
This is one of those super dopp easy dishes that is SOOOOO tasty.
Don't you love easy things.
This is great warm or cold and only takes 10 minutes! 
You can vary this salad by adding other things too- like chickpeas or roasted beetroot or what ever other things you like!
Beautiful on it's own or with chicken or Fish.
It is a great vegie dish to cook when you are doing a BBQ too as you can cook the Zucchini on the BBQ.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 4 large zucchini, cut into long strips about 1cm thick
• 100g fetta
• fresh mint
• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• S & P
• Lemon juice ( i used on very juicy lemon)

METHOD:


In a griddle pan add a splosh of EVOO and leave the Zucchini to sit in the pan on medium heat for about 5 minutes per side- or until you can see the lovely char marks on the zucchini.
Turn and do the same to other side.
Repeat for all strips and set aside.
Place into a serving dish and crumble the fetta over.
Do same with the mint.
Now squeeze the lemon juice over and season generously with S &P.
Serve and enjoy!
How easy is that! 
YUM!!!

Todays listening pleasure is guaranteed to make the tears spill.........

In the dark there is brightness

It has been yard yakka at Chez GG for two and a bit weeks.

I have been reminded of how BIG my job is.

How when things are going great it is still a fine balancing act of fulfilling the demands of a whole lot of humans.

And then illness hits and the bundle is dropped fair and square on the floor.

Chaos takes over.

Mess invades.

Washing piles up and up and up.

A lot of Weetbix gets served for breakfast AND dinner.

Last night I was exhausted beyond words.

I was struggling to stay warm and needed a scalding shower to warm me.

I just wanted to curl up under my quilt at 7 o'clock.

But even getting to my bed seemed like too much effort.

I was too tired to even want to pour myself my "cheers o'clock" drink.

That is something I LOVE to do.

It feels as though it is a celebration of getting through.

A shout out to myself that I made it!

I conquered another day.

Not last night......

Then I got a text from my walking buddy to confirm that we were on for our morning walk the following day.

I could have so easily opted out at that moment.

The thought of getting up out of bed before dawn just seemed like the last thing on earth I wanted to do.

But I said YES emphatically.

You know why?

Because for the first time in nearly 15 years I am doing something for ME.

I had an "A-ha" moment a few months back.
The realisation that the sudden desire to want to exercise wasn't going to gift itself to me- even though I was a needy recipient.

That I needed to gift MYSELF the exercise with or without the desire.

And so.......at 6am most mornings of the week and on some weekend days I get woken by an alarm and I stumble out of my warm and delicious bed to get dressed to meet a friend to walk.

This is what it looks like:

Yet it has become one of the brightest parts of my day.

Walking in the dark & cold.  How could that be?

Well.....what I have realised is that for nearly 15 years I have woken, not because my body knew it had enough rest (cause boy oh boy it NEVER felt rested) but because I have been woken by one or more of the kids.

In this time I  never allowed myself to rise and let my mind be free from the demands of my job.

Normally I wake and it is ALL on!

Lunches, breakfasts, washing, dishwasher, packing bags, feeding animals, getting to school.

And while I would make myself a coffee- or 3- I rarely had enough time to feed myself breakfast.

That would come after I got home.

So much was bad about this.

I was coming last ALL of the time!

It was bad for my health but most of all bad for my SOUL.

Now I have gone out and walked 3 kms and come home and got my brekky- yes MY brekky-before anyone is even awake.

I have quiet.

ALL TO MYSELF.

There is sooooo much light for me walking in the darkness.

So even when I am DOG tired at the end of the day I know that I WILL get up in the dark the next day.

It is my gift to myself.

And sometimes the Universe gives me a little gift in return.

It looks like this:

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S BUCKWHEAT PORRIDGE with Pistachios, Ricotta & Green Apple:
As I now have more time I am trying to make myself something really delicious and nutritious for brekky after my walk.
I am loving the readily available mix of seeds and grains that are around now.
I wanted to give Buckwheat a go. I hadn't had it before.
It is a great gluten free alternative to regular porridge.
Buckwheat is actually a fruit seed that is related to Rhubarb and Sorrel and not related to Wheat at all.
It has a lovely nutty flavour.
This makes a single serve
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 cup of Buckwheat
• 2 1/2 cups of Milk
• honey
• 1 green apple
• 1/4 cup fresh Ricotta
• 4 tablespoons Pistachio nuts

METHOD:
In a small pan add Buckwheat and mik. 
Set heat at medium and bring to a simmer.
Cook while stirring for about 25 minutes or until the Buckwheat is soft but still has some bite.
You may need to add a little more milk. Just keep an eye on it!

Remove from heat.
Grate the apple over the top.
Sprinkle with Pistachios and crumble the Ricotta gently over.
Now drizzle with honey and enjoy!

I have shared Ane Brun before ( I am a big fan) but this seems rather parfait non?!
The words.... "there's no use taking a step back from me...". yep. too true.

The story of Me & Baking and Why we aren't friends.

You all know I like to cook.

A LOT.

But Baking & I have never really been friends.

I think it is the exacting nature of baking that puts me off.

The fact that when they say 1/2 a cup they REALLY mean HALF a cup!

I am kind of well known for being a spontaneous kind of girl.

A bit of a rule breaker.

Not in a bad way...

I just have never really liked being told what to do.

Coupled with the fact that I don't really have much of a sweet tooth it meant that Baking and me were never really going to hit it off.

Baking was the girl in the schoolyard who always had her pigtails all perfect with the centre part RIGHT smack bang in the middle of her head.  Who always arrived for photo day with her dress all ironed with perfect seams & matching ribbons.

Me.....well I was one with the socks all baggy around my ankles and with Pippi Longstocking plaits (she was my HERO dontcha know...I WAS her!) all wayward and bent skywards with pipe-cleaners to keep them flipped up & mismatching ribbons.  I arrived for photo day with stains & creases on my dress. And I wore red patent clogs instead of school shoes.

My original & very LOVED copy of my HERO

You get my drift?

But the other day on Instagram Flowerpress was chatting about a cake that really took my fancy.
And then my photo on Instagram had lots of requests to blog the recipe too.

We were in the midst of one of those weeks last week where illness visits and takes over.

I sometimes get this weird urge to bake when that happens.

If I listened to my inner psychologist I would totes read that behaviour as me grabbing at a little control where all else feels...well SOOOO outta control.

Does that happen to you?

Do you grab at things to control when all else feels like it is spiralling?

BAKED LEMON & LIME BUTTER CHEESECAKE:
The original recipe is from here.
I get so frustrated when I see the ingredient lists of recipes are not in Metric.
Are you the same? Luckily there is an app for that!
Sheesh when will we all get on the Metric scale? So MUCH easier.
Anyway I made a few minor changes and I will write the recipe in Metric for all us metric fans ok!
My Hubby is a BIG fan of a baked cheesecake so I thought I would get all 'Housewife of the Year 1954' and bake him a cake.  
It might of even made up for the house being super messy. Just maybe.
And despite me NOT being a big fan of sweets I must say this was DELICIOUS.
It has a butter cake bottom & edge which goes all chewy and sugary with the lovely soft cheesecakey middle hidden in the middle. AMAZING.
You make the 2 parts separately and pour the cheesecake top over the butter cake bottom.
I made the butter cake part first & poured it into the springform tin and then made the cheesecake part.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
for the butter cake part

• 2/3 cup plain Organic flour
• 1/3 cup Caster sugar
• 2 tspn baking powder
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 2 organic eggs
• juice of 1 lemon (and the zest)
• juice of 1 lime (and zest) (if you only have lemons just substitute this here)
• seeds from half a Vanilla bean (substitute 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract)

for the cheesecake part

• 250g cream cheese
• 3tblspn butter
• 1 organic egg
• the seeds form the other half of the vanilla pod (or 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract)
• zest of a lemon
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/2 cup of Icing sugar (and a little extra for dusting)

METHOD:
Heat oven to 160C.
Grease & line a 20 cm springform tin.

In a mixer combine the dry ingredients and then add all wet. Mix well.
Pour into the springform tin.

Now to make the cheesecake part (I used the same mixing bowl).

Beat the cream cheese for about 3 minutes until it is light and creamy.
Add the icing sugar and continue to beat for 2-3 minutes.
Add the egg, butter, vanilla seeds & lemon juice & zest.
Mix until combined and stop.

Now carefully add the cheesecake batter on top of the butter cake batter being sure to leave an edge of about 5cm.

This allows the butter cake to rise around the edges and swallow the cheesecake inside giving the chewy delicious edge.

Place into the oven and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean near the edge of the cake.
Allow to cool in the tin for ten minute before carefully removing the springform tin & allowing to cool on a wire rack.

Let cool for an hour before dusting with Icing sugar.

(The original recipe suggests serving cold from the refrigerator but I prefer it to be room temperature. The flavours are better.)

And the listening pleasure today is from one of my FAVE Sassy ladies- Sarah Vaughan...her nickname was 'SASSY'. Do you LOVE Sarah Vaughan?
Listen to how gorgeous she is at the start of the video when she speaks a little Swedish. Bless her.....

Leftovers Pt. 3

Here we go.....

Meal three with just one Roast Dinner.

Not bad for a family of seven.

How are your efforts going at using what is in your fridge & using leftovers?

It feels good to reduce the waste I think.

And who wouldn't like to reduce the amount of time they are at the shops?

It is a SUPER cold and VERY wet day in Melbourne today.

A perfect excuse to bake a pie!


GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S LEFTOVER LAMB ROAST SHEPHERD'S PIE:
A few days ago I made a Lamb roast.  
I ordered my Lamb direct from the farmer- delivered to my door by her! 
AMAZING!
Gorgeous Organic free-range Dorper lamb.
Go here if you are in Victoria and would like to join Anna's email subscription list. 
You all know I like to know where my food comes from! Provenance is important to me.
This meal uses the leftover Lamb that I roasted.
This same meal's leftovers also made Roast veg Frittata with the leftover Veg.
So that is THREE meals for our family of SEVEN with just ONE leg of lamb!
Not bad.
Shepherds Pie was originally invented as a means of using leftover Roast meat (called Cottage pie if Beef was used).
Nowadays most people use mince but I am going 'Old school' with this recipe.
In this recipe you can pretty much use whatever Veg you like- so use your faves! I just used what I had in the fridge but there is no hard & fast rule here.
I also added a 'twist' to the Mashed Potato topping.
Lamb & Fetta are such a lovely marriage of flavours so I experimented with adding some soft crumbled Fetta to the Mash to see how that would go.
This is Rustic cuisine. Play around with what you like best.
It tasted AMAZING!
Taking risks in the kitchen doesn't always pay off- luckily this time it did and I will definitely be doing it again!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 500g Leftover Lamb, diced fine
• 2 onions, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley, chopped fine
• 3 carrots, diced
• 200g Tuscan Kale, chopped 
• 100g peas
• 1/2 can Organic Tomatoes
• a splash of Worcester sauce
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup beef stock
• S & P
• 5 Dutch cream or Desiree Spuds
• 2 tablespoons Butter
• 1/4 cup milk (or maybe less!)
• 60g soft crumbled Fetta
• EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Preheat oven to 200C.

Heat a pan with boiling water and cook Potatoes while you make the lamb mix.

In a heavy pan saute onion in a little EVOO till translucent.

Add garlic and fry for a minute.

Add the diced Lamb.

Stir through.

Add chopped Parsley, carrot, Kale & peas. 

Cook for about 5 minutes stirring.

Add the Worcester sauce and S&P.

Cook for 10 minutes.

Dust the flour over the top and then stir through- cook while stirring for about a minute to cook the flour. The mixture will seem quite dry.

Add the 1/2 can tomatoes & the beef stock and stir through.

Cook gently for about 5 minutes till the mix has thickened.

Remove from heat & set aside.

Once potatoes are cooked, drain and add butter & Fetta and MASH!!

You want the mash to be relatively thick as this will top the pie.

Add only as much milk is necessary to have a good thick mash.

Now add your Lamb mix into a shallow pie dish.

Even it out and add the Mash on top. Again- ou don't want this to look perfect. It should look like good home cooking with all it's imperfections! 

Pop into oven for 20 minutes or until the top is looking deliciously brown.

Serve on own or with a crispy Green salad.

YUM!!!!!!

We were listening to this old track from First Aid Kit earlier today. So gorgeous.

Leftovers Pt. 2

Today I made something else from leftovers.

Leftover bread.

How often does your family have a few slices of bread or the end of a loaf hanging around.

Does it end up in the bin?

It can quickly be turned into other things even though it is not good to eat fresh.

Making use of leftovers is so important.

To reduce waste is SO important.

Our parents all did this- our grandparents all did it too.

They did it without thought...it was just done.

Just the way things were.

Partly out of necessity.

A lot out of making do with what was on hand.

A different way of looking at life.

Being more thankful perhaps.

Life was less about convenience.

I for one am glad to see the tide turning.

Yes, maybe it takes more effort but ......

Yes....it feels DAMN GOOD!

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S What's in the Fridge CAESAR SALAD (minus the boiled eggs):
I think it has been about ten years since I had a Caesar salad.
I have been craving one for days......
I was going to be meeting friends for a bite but had a late cancellation (ain't it the way with kids & busy lives).
I had the end of a good loaf sitting on the bench.  No good to eat fresh but perfect to make into croutons.
And I had some Mayo that needed to be used! But NO EGGS!
So it seemed like the perfect opportunity to realise my craving & make the salad with what I had on hand!
(NB: the Dressing will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge. ANd if you have eggs, boil them for exactly 4 minutes and then peel them and slice in half and serve on top of the leaves.)

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 cup of mayonnaise (my recipe is here) I used Dijon mustard in this batch NOT wholegrain
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 50g Parmesan (I used some Bruny Island Cheese Tom- it was the perfect substitute!)
• extra cheese to slice into the salad
• 3 slices of leftover bread, sliced into cubes
• 2 rashers of good quality free range Bacon
• Pepper (you probs won't need Salt as the anchovies and Bacon will provide enough)
• 1 cos lettuce, shredded & well washed

METHOD:
In a food processor blitz the parmesan, garlic & anchovy fillets till very fine.
Add the mayo and combine.

Using a little oil from the anchovy tin fry the bacon and croutons.
I like to do this as it adds all those DELICIOUS flavours from the anchovy & bacon into the bread.
Fry till the bacon is crunchy and the bread is brown & crunchy.
Set aside to cool a little.
On a plate scatter some Cos lettuce.
Now scatter the croutons & the bacon (place egg halves on top of the leaves if you have them available).
Slice as much cheese as you like over the top.
Drizzle with your freshly made Dressing!
et Voila!

Leftovers have never looked so well dressed! 
BOOM TISH!

Today's track is by Deer tick. I popped another of their songs on here a while back.