Winter Manifesto

 

A Winter Manifesto

A public written or verbal

declaration of intentions..

So who is in with Julie and Jen on Little Paper Projects Little Summer of Joy project ?

Well of course I am but I shall be joining in with a Winter Perspective.

As the girls have made a lovely Summer Manifesto printable for those in the Northern Hemisphere I have made one for we lucky peeps who are documenting our Winter.

.

Feel free to download either the image above or the manifesto below.
Right click on the image and save.

This printable was made using the Label That Digital Stamps from Kellies Stamps it is well worth checking out Kellies products. 


Please link me or tag me on Instagram with a pic of the way you use this manifesto I would appreciate being able to leave a comment and some love...

Cheers Marie

National Pi Day

 National Pi Day

 

Well it is National Pi Day here - So here is our family favourite recipe to celebrate with today.
Over on Sarah's Project Stir Blog she has a round up of awesome recipes.
Definitely worth checking out here

Ingredients :

 

Filling

2 medium Leeks washed & finely sliced

8 Chicken Thigh Fillets

1 cup of chicken stock

2 Glasses of a dry white { 1 for the chef -1 for the pot }

1 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of Olive Oil

 

 

Cheese Sauce

60 grams butter

1/3 cup of plain flour

4 cups of milk

250 grams of good swiss type cheese grated -

as you can see I used Gouda.

1/2 teaspoon Fresh Nutmeg finely grated 

Salt and Pepper to taste 

 

 



Method

 

 

Step 1... Melt Butter in a large frypan and add Olive Oil and Leeks

Cook Gently till bright green and slightly translucent.

 

Step 2... Push Leeks to the outer edges of the pan and place in 

the Chicken fillets.

Turn up the heat and when the pan is hot add the 1 glass of wine.
Now add the 1 cup of Chicken Stock.
Turn down to a simmer and place on lid cook for 20 mins.
 

 

 

 

Step 3... Make Cheese Sauce

In a small heavy based pan melt the butter and add plain flour cook on high heat, till frothy.

Next add the grated nutmeg.

Remove from heat.

 Slowly add milk stirring all the time so as to get a smooth lump free sauce.

 

Return to heat and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon,

for 10 to 12 minutes or until sauce comes to the boil,

 thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon.

 

At this point turn off heat and add the cheese

stir till combined and melted.

 

 

 

Consistency should now resemble a quite thick ribbon.

Your sauce will thin considerably when added to the stock in the pan.

 

 

 

 Step 4... Take out the now poached chicken and dice finely, return to pan and turn up the heat to reduce the stock to half.

 

 

 

Stir in the Cheese sauce until the leek mixture and sauce are well combined - allow to cool.

 

 

Bake

 

I have a 4Pie pie maker and I use that to bake my pies.

I use pre bought Borgs Butter Puff Pastry.

I have included a link to the pastry I would make when time permits.

 Nigella Lawson Processor Puff Pastry HERE

Baking them for about 10 mins and then checking for nice golden tops.

 

However if your were to use individual pie moulds in the oven.

I would bake individual pies for 25 - 30 minutes at 180C/200C fan forced oven.

 

 

 

These pies were made by special request from a friend of mine for her neighbour who is presently recovering from Chemo. She wanted something tasty for her that was quick to put a meal on the table for her family when she was feeling unwell.

 

Notes

 

Both the pies and the pie filling freeze brilliantly.

Please use the Swiss type cheese it add that lovely sweet nutty flavour.

I hope you enjoy the recipe please leave a comment if your have a question or a wine suggestion.

 



Project Stir - Story telling through International recipes.

I am so pleased and proud to be one of Sara Schotts Project Stir Ambassadors. 

I have waited till January 1st to do this post for a few reasons... 

No. 1 

  I have just become a Nana note not a grandma or grandmother A NANA ! Although if I could possibly find an an ounce of Spanish blood in my heritage I  would happily be an Abuela or Italian blood I would be a Nonna for sure. A Yiddish Bubba or German Oma would be just as nice. 

 But as I am an Irish / Australia I shall have to settle for Nana or the Irish or Gaelic word for grandmother is seanmháthair ((shan a WAW her), literally meaning "old mother."

This term would not be used to directly address a grandparent. Children would use instead Maimeó (MAM o) or Móraí (MO ree). Oooh I am liking the Morai one... 

No. 2 

  My mother couldn't cook ! She tried god bless her but ...... well we didn't starve. So my cooking prowess is self taught. 

So my Project Stir story shall begin with me as a Nana { Abuela, Nonna, Bubba, Oma and Morai } 

I hope you will join me here in this amazing project where i will hand down my recipes, tips and anecdotes not to mention LOADS of photos - my other passion. 

---oo0oo---

So it is New Years Day January 1st 2016 and here is my first recipe for you... 

Where else would I be this morning but in the kitchen our Global Pantry Foodie group are meeting for a family lunch and I have been requested to bring my Salted Caramel Toblerone Pavlova Torte. 

Ingredients : 

6 egg whites at room temperature

2 cups of castor sugar { Australian 250ml cup }

1 1/2 tsp plain white vinegar

1 /12 tsp vanilla

     OR 

1 Pavlova Magic Egg { from the supermarket 

Flaked Almonds enough to sprinkle on top each of the 2 pavlova .

300 ml whipped cream 

200 grams Toblerone Chocolate Bar gently melted and cooled slightly. 

Decorate: 

Dusting of Icing { Powdered Sugar } and Cocoa

Drizzle of salted caramel sauce  either homemade or pre bought { the latter being my preference } 

Method :

Pre heat oven to a slow heat 150 C / 300 F 

Beat egg whites in a clean NO oil bowl.  

{To make sure your bowl has no oil in it wipe out with a piece of paper towel moistened with vinegar.}  

Beat egg white till soft peak stage 

Add sugar 1 tbsp at a time beating well after each addition. 

Stop beating and scrape down the sides of the bowl - continue beating until all the sugar is incorporated. 

Fold in Vinegar and vanilla. 

Cover 1 extra long tray or 2 trays with baking paper. If you want even circular pavs trace circles on the wrong side of the baking paper. 

Divide Pavlova mix in half and spread evenly over your 2 circles approximately 2cms thick. 

Sprinkle the tops with flaked almonds they will stick nicely and toast at the same time adding that extra crunch in the end product. 

Bake for an hour. Turn off the oven and leave the door ajar for several hours or overnight to dry out the Pavlova. 

Filling :

Whip your cream and gentle fold through the melted Toblerone bar. The end result should look nicely marbled with some large streams of Toblerone visible.

Sandwich pavlovas together with cream and Flaked almond sides up.

Decorate :  

Sift a good dessertspoon of Icing sugar and teas of Cocoa together over the top followed by a light drizzle of Salted caramel sauce. 

Enjoy my friends and feel free to ask for help or leave a comment .. Marie 

Wow November already.

Well how exciting is my life right now ....
Not only did I make the beautiful and talented Jessica Upton's Colorcast Design team for the Holiday Season but I was also honoured to become a revered CSI Color Stories Inspirations Detective.

Just goes to show all those years of watching :
Columbo
Starsky and Hutch
Charlies Angels
Midsommer Murders
Murder She Wrote
Magnum PI
New tricks
Phsyc
Diagnosis Murder
Death in Paradise
Matlock

Have seriously paid off.

So now to get to work and produce some art/memeory keeping to show case both  Jessicas products and the awesome challenges over at CSI Please check them both out you can find links Colorcast here and Color Stories Inspiration here

Thank you both for choosing me to join your teams..

Colorcast Design with Pink Acrylic Hearts 

And Halloween with beautiful acrylic Bats ...

Thanks for stopping by - Marie 

CSI Colour Stories Inspiration

CSI  | Colour Stories Inspiration 

No. 176 

So the idea is to take this inspiration and knock out a LO.  How can you fail ?  The inspiration is in the gallery over at Color Stories Inspirations and the Case File tells you exactly what elements to add to your  LO.  Easy Peasy really ... 

They even include the colour panetoned for digi scrappers. 

Have i said how much i love this site. You will find the challenge here

So here is my take on No. 176 

This LO is of Emily a few years ago at a friends and family Australia Day BBQ. I love any excuse to get out and about with my friends and family and have a great time. The weather is always beautiful and often we find ourselves at the beach . 

No. 177

I love this case file it had such a woodsy feel to it. I even made my first You-tube video of picking a mini kit to make this LO..  So here is the end result . 

My take on Case File No. 177

We have quiet a few scheduled photoshoots on the calendar every year. Christmas, Australia Day, St Patricks Day, Easter and Halloween.  This one is from a St Patricks Day shoot a year when the kids refused to dress up but were happy to wear green and pose.  One has to take what one can get I suppose. So there you have it case file 177. You will find the challenge here 

Also and even more exciting from my point of view any is that I made a You-tube video!  My first!

I did my video on picking a kit to make this LO so if you're interested .......