Agnolotti and Ravioli Two Ways

I recently bought some Ricotta and Spinach Agnolotti and Chicken and Mushroom Ravioli on special. I don't eat a great deal of pasta (T does) but I consider this kind if pasta a real treat.
I decided to cook both pastas together, make a big batch and have enough for leftovers. I prepared two different 'sauces,' both of which were delicious!

The tomato based sauce was made up of onion, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, chopped tomatoes and some tomato paste. Simple but yummy.

The other 'sauce' was a new one I tried out. I visited taste.com.au and found a recipe for Avocado and Rocket Pasta. The flavours were fresh and delicious. I definitely recommend this recipe to anyone.

Tofu Stir-Fry

I've made a few tofu stir-fries lately and this one was a real winner.

 

The tofu was pre-marinated and the delicious selection of vegies were from a frozen packet. I also added some extra broccoli and sauces. It was served with Maggi 2-Minute noodles.

Smoked Trout Pita Wrap

Last night for dinner I made myself a tasty wrap. The pita bread was fresh (M-mmm!) and I filled it with smoked trout, sour cream, baby spinach leaves, green capsicum, tomato avocado and gherkins. Nice.

T's Birthday Lunch

Monday is T's birthday so we had some friends over for lunch today to celebrate. I had planned and cooked ahead so I had nothing to stress about today.
I tried a few new recipes, each of which were quite successful, as well as making some tried and tested favourites.

Here is the menu:

Nibbles
Savory celery sticks
Hommus with rice crackers and pita bread
Corn chips with salsa

Home made hommus

The Celery sticks were a winner. The mixture in the middle would make a nice dip, it consisted of cream cheese combined with finely chopped red onion and gherkins. I found the recipe in a 4 Ingredients cook book.

Savory celery sticks

Main

Thai Pumpkin Soup

Potato and Leek Soup

Tuscan Bean Soup

This was a new recipe. It was simple and delicious.

+ Vienna Loaf
+ Sweet chilli pull apart
+ French stick

Dessert
 Orange mini muffins with cream cheese icing

Gluten-free choc biscuits

Laurant Folie Cake

I was super happy with all the food. Everything was well received, there was plenty left over and I got a fair few compliments! Perfect for a birthday lunch!!

Happy Birthday hubby!

Rice Crusted Quiche

I wanted to try something a little new so I made a rice crusted quiche the other day. The crust was simply brown rice, an egg and a little cheese. I pressed this mixture into a round oven tray and browned it slightly in the oven.
To the egg mixture I added pumpkin, potato, capsicum and zucchini. Unfortunately I didn't add as much seasoning as I should have so the finished product was rather bland and unexciting. I will probably try this again sometime because it is an easy, budget meal for mid week, however next time I won't forget the salt!

Home Made Soup and Bread

Last weekend we had my parents over for lunch. It was a humble meal of soup and bread but was totally delicious. I made Potato and Leek Soup and asked mum to bring along her signature Pumpkin Soup.

To accompany the soups I made Beer Bread and Damper. My dad doesn't drink beer at all but he loved this bread. He especially liked the sweetness and the crust.

Beer Bread
(from 3 Ingredients)
1 can of beer (375ml)
1/3 cup sugar
3 cups Self Raising Flour

Mix ingredients together and transfer into loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour at 180 degrees. 50 minutes into cooking time drizzle loaf with a knob of melted butter (I forgot to do this but it still turned out nicely).

I couldn't get enough of the damper! The base recipe is the same as I used some months back and wrote about on a previous post, Monday Night Dinner. This time however, I stirred through some garlic and herbs It was absolutely scrumptious!!

Potato and Leek Soup

This soup is quick and easy and tastes great!
55g butter
1 onion
3 leeks
225g potatoes cut into cubes
850ml vegetable stock
salt and pepper

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add onion, leek, potatoes and saute until soft. Pour in stock and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 15mins. Blend in a food processor until smooth. Re heat and enjoy!!

Orange Cake

I went searching for an orange cake I could make without almond meal and found one written by a fellow blogger, Rhonda on Down to Earth. The recipe appeared to be quick and easy. It certainly was! I changed the recipe slightly and here it is:

2 small whole orange, washed well

3 eggs

180 g melted butter

~1 cup white sugar

1½ cups self raising flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Process oranges in food processor until there are no large chunks remaining. Transfer to a bowl. Add all other ingredients and mix through. Transfer to greased loaf tin and bake for about 40 minutes.

I kind of lost track how long the cake was in the oven for. I think it might have been closer to 50 minutes, rather than 40. It did brown on top very fast so I had to cover it with foil about 25 minutes in to the cooking time.

When it came out of the oven and was served up it was delicious, moist and very enjoyable. I plan on making this again very soon, before my abundant collection of oranges go off.